Schubert's famous ode to the wonders of music, on a poem by Franz von Schober. This lied, D. 547 (Op. 88, No. 4), dates from 1817.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
Gerald Moore, piano
Filmed in London, May 14, 1959 (they filmed four songs)
Von Schober, while a law student in 1816, heard a few of Schubert's songs and found out he was still barely surviving the drudgery of school and looking for work. Von Schober proposed to install him in his own household, so Schubert could concentrate on just composing. Schubert agreed to this after his father's consent was given.
An die Musik
Du holde Kunst, in wieviel grauen Stunden,
Wo mich des Lebens wilder Kreis umstrickt,
Hast du mein Herz zu warmer Lieb entzunden,
Hast mich in eine beßre Welt entrückt!
Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir
Den Himmel beßrer Zeiten mir erschlossen,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!
To the Art of Music
Oh hallowed Art, how often, when depression
and life's wild circle had ensnared my space,
have you aroused my heart to love's compassion,
have you removed me to a better place!
How often has the sigh your harp created,
a sacred chord of your enchanted mood,
to heaven's better times my soul elated:
Oh hallowed Art, to you my gratitude!
Translation by Walter A. Aue, who notes:
The German word "hold", as in "Du holde Kunst", is virtually untranslatable. Musically speaking, it has too many overtones. Two translations I know of - i.e. that I tracked down after I had done my own - use "gracious" and "sacred". Good choices, particularly the former. One could use these, or use "lovely", "gentle", "propitious", "charming" - and then some. My use of "hallowed" is as incomplete and as unsure as any of these.
But one thing is sure: None of these adjectives describe "highbrow" music as it is written today. In fact, one would have to press antonyms into service for that. Is there any more solace to be found in the music of today? Should Ortega y Gasset have been right with his claim, in the first half of the 20th century, that music - or, as he wrote, art - had died? If so, will there again be an anthropomorphic resurrection, or is it really all over?
Incidentally, Franz (Adolf Friedrich) von Schober was a Swede - well, a Swede born of an Austrian mother (at Torup Castle near Malmö), anyway.
Tags: baritone Fischer-Dieskau Lied Lieder Moore Schubert Schober
