The following song facts and translation (see translation resource) is provided by German teacher Bernd Hendricks, author of "Ach ich fühl's - German for Opera Singers in Three Acts: Studying, Speaking, Singing" which is currently available here on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Ach-ich-fühls-Studying-Speaking/dp/1312463457/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413880914&sr=8-1&keywords=Ach+ich+fühl%27s+German+for+Opera+Singers
Mr. Hendricks also has a blog with helpful information on German repertoire at https://achichfuehls.wordpress.com
?Auf ein altes Bild? by Slovenian-born Austrian composer Hugo Wolf is a song of the late romantic period, probably written in 1888. At that time Wolf was interested in the themes of Eduard Friedrich Möricke's poems, one of them the six-line poem ?Auf ein altes Bild.? Möricke was a Swabian poet and translator. Owing to his work as pastor, ?Auf ein altes Bild? (auf = here: about, on; das Bild = picture) refers to the religious content of a painting by Albrecht Dürer. It depicts the Knäblein Sündelos (?sinless little boy? or better: the little boy called sinless; the author gives him a name) as it plays in the lap of the Madonna (Jungfrau). In the background stands a tree. Its wood will be used to make a cross ? the very cross where the child will be crucified many years later.
The following translation and additional information (see song facts) is provided by German teacher Bernd Hendricks, author of "Ach ich fühl's - German for Opera Singers in Three Acts: Studying, Speaking, Singing" which is currently available here on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Ach-ich-fühls-Studying-Speaking/dp/1312463457/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413880914&sr=8-1&keywords=Ach+ich+fühl%27s+German+for+Opera+Singers
Mr. Hendricks also has a blog with helpful information on German repertoire at https://achichfuehls.wordpress.com
Vocabulary:
die Landschaft = landscape
der Sommer = summer, der Flor = bloom, Sommerflor = bloom, blossoming of summer
der Schilf = reed
das Rohr = giant reed
spielen = to play, ich spiele, du spielst, es (das Knäblein) spielet (today: spielt)
der Schoß = lap
der Wald = forrest, woods
wonnesam = (old) filled with bliss, blissful (today: wonnevoll)
grünen = to become green, er (der Stamm) grünet (today: grünt)
das Kreuz = cross
der Stamm = trunk of a tree
Grammar:
In these six lines Möricke uses the genitive case three times, creating richness in meaning and substance in that little poem. A case describes the role a noun plays in a sentence. The genitive determines possession or dependence, and changes the article (der, die, das) accordingly.
(today:) der Sommerflor der Landschaft (here: in the ?poet's genitive? in der Landschaft Sommerflor)
(today:) der Schoß der Jungfrau (here: der Jungfrau Schoß)
(today:) der Stamm des Kreuzes (here: des Kreuzes Stamm)
Auf ein altes Bild
To an Old Picture
In grüner Landschaft Sommerflor,
In the summer's blossoming of a green landscape,
Bei kühlem Wasser, Schilf und Rohr,
Close to cool water, and small and giant reeds,
Schau, wie das Knäblein Sündelos
Look, how the little boy named sinless
Frei spielet auf der Jungfrau Schoß!
Plays freely in the Madonna's lap!
Und dort im Walde wonnesam,
And there in the forest filled with bliss,
Ach, grünet schon des Kreuzes Stamm!
Alas, the trunk of the cross turns already green!