DESCRIPTION:
Laura Virella, mezzo-soprano
Michael Korman, piano

Berkman Recital Hall
Hartforf, CT
December 8, 2012

Poetry by Adelbert von Chamisso
Translation by Laura Virella, www.thelanguagedivas.com

1.
Ever since I saw him
I think I've gone blind.
Wherever I look
I see only him.
As if in a waking dream
His image floats before me
Rising from a deep darkness,
bright and brighter evermore.

All else around me is light- and colorless.
I no longer wish to take part in my sisters' games.
I would rather weep
quietly in my little room.
Ever since I saw him,
I think I've gone blind.

2.
He, the most glorious of all!
How kind, how good!
Gentle lips...light eyes,
Clear-minded and full of courage!

Just as in the deep blue
a star shines yonder, bright and nobly.
Thus is he, in my sky,
bright and noble, sublime and far.

Wander, wander down your path.
So that I can see your brightness from afar.
So that I can see you in humility,
Causing a blissful sadness.

Hear not my soft prayer,
Which is said only for your happiness.
Don't let me, a humble maiden, know you,
Noble star of the glorious sky.

May only the worthiest of all
Be able to gladden your will.
And I will bless this noble one
A thousand times.

I will then rejoice and weep.
Blissful, blissful will I be then!
And should my heart be broken,
Go ahead and break, heart,
What lies within anyway?

He, the most glorious of all!
How kind, how good!
Gentle lips...light eyes,
Clear-minded and full of courage!

3.
I can't grasp nor believe it.
A dream must have bewitched me.
How could he, from among all,
have exalted and blessed poor me?

I thought he spoke:
"I am forever yours."
I think I'm still dreaming
For that cannot possibly be.

O, let me die in this dream!
Cradled on his chest.
Let me drink blissful death,
In tears of endless pleasure.

I can't grasp nor believe it.
A dream must have bewitched me.
How could he, from among all,
have exalted and blessed poor me?

I can't grasp nor believe it.
A dream must have bewitched me.

4.
You, ring on my finger,
My little golden ring,
I press you devoutly against my lips,
Against my lips and against my heart.

I was already done with the dream,
The tranquil and beautiful dream of childhood.
I found myself abandoned
In an endless void of space.

It was then when you, ring on my finger,
First taught me.
You opened my eyes
To life's endless, deep value.

I want to serve him,
I want to live for him.
I want to belong to him entirely.
I want to give myself to him,
and then find myself transformed within his splendor.

You, ring on my finger,
My little golden ring,
I press you devoutly against my lips,
Against my lips and against my heart.

5.
Help me, sisters, adorn myself joyfully!
Tend to the happy one today: me.
Wind excitedly around my forehead
A crown of blooming myrtles.

Even as I laid contently
In my lover's arms,
He always called impatiently
For this day to come.

Help me, sisters,
Help me get rid of these silly nerves.
That I may greet him with clear eyes.
Him, the fountain of happiness.

Have you, my beloved, chosen me?
Do you, sun, give me your light?
Let me in devotion,
Let me in humility,
Let me bow before my lord.

Shower him, sisters, shower him with flowers!
Bring him budding roses.
But you, sisters, I greet you with sadness...
Parting joyfully from the group.

6.
Sweet friend, you look at me perplexed.
You can't understand how I can cry.
Let the unusual crown of wet pearls
Happily and full of light tremble in my eyes.

How my bosom palpitates! How full of joy it is.
Oh would I but know the words with which to express it.
Come and bury your face here, in my chest.
I want to whisper all my pleasure in your ear.

Do you now know the tears that I can weep?
Should you not see them, you beloved, beloved man?

Stay on my heart.
Feel its beating,
For I want to hold you tighter and tighter.

Here, by my bed, there's room for the cradle,
Where my cherished dream will quietly hide.
The day is coming, when the dream will wake up,
And from there, your image will smile at me,
Your image.

7.
On my heart, on my breast!
You, my joy and my pleasure!
Happiness is love, love is happiness!
I have said it, and will not take it back!

I was already extremely fortunate,
but am now even more overjoyed.
Only she who nurses,
Only she who loves the child whom she nourishes,
Only a mother knows what love and happiness are.

Oh how I feel sorry for men --
For they cannot feel a mother's joy.

You dear, dear angel, you!
You look towards me and that makes you smile!

On my heart, on my breast!
You, my joy and my pleasure!

8.
Now you have for the first time caused me pain.
Oh and how it hurts.
You sleep. You, hard, heartless man
The sleep of death.

The abandoned one looks inside.
The world is empty! Empty.
I have loved, and I have lived.
I am no longer alive.

I pull myself inwardly, quietly.
The veil falls.
There I have you and my forsaken joy.
You, my world.

Translation by Laura Virella, www.thelanguagedivas.com