Richard Wagner (1813-1883):
Dich, theure Halle
(from Tannhäuser) (1845)
Text: Richard Wagner
Original Key/Recorded Key: G Major
Teach-Track begins: m. 1
Accompaniment Track begins: m. 1
Pianist: Daniel Michalak
The text of ?Dich, teure Halle? is passionate like its music, a firework of pronouns of all walks of life. The first word is already one: ?Dich?. From then on we find a pronoun in every line, a sign that Elisabeth, the character, is deeply involved with Tannhäuser, the namesake of the opera and the singer who is returning into her life and to the Sängerhalle, the medieval concert hall. Now, she enters the hall, eagerly awaiting the man she loves so much.
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Translation and song facts provided by the Berlin-based writer and German tutor Bernd Hendricks whose book "Ach ich fühl's - German for Opera Singers in Three Acts: Studying, Speaking, Singing" can be purchased here:
http://www.amazon.com/Ach-ich-f%C3%BChls-Studying-Speaking/dp/1312463457/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413880914&sr=8-1&keywords=Ach+ich+f%C3%BChl%27s+German+for+Opera+Singers
And his blog accessed here: https://achichfuehls.wordpress.com/
Dich, teure Halle, grüss' ich wieder,
You, dear hall, I greet again,
froh grüss' ich dich, geliebter Raum!
happily I greet you, beloved space!
In dir erwachen seine Lieder,
In you his songs awaken,
und wecken mich aus düstrem Traum. -
and wake me from a dark dream. -
Da er aus dir geschieden,
Since he parted from you
wie öd' erschienst du mir!
how bleak did you appear to me!
Aus mir entfloh der Frieden,
From me, peace escaped,
die Freude zog aus dir. -
all the joy move away from you. -
Wie jetzt mein Busen hoch sich hebet,
As my bossom raises high,
so scheinst du jetzt mir stolz und hehr;
you appear to me now proud and sublime;
der dich und mich so neu belebet,
the one who revives you and me,
nicht länger weilt er ferne mehr.
no longer lingers far away,
Sei mir gegrüsst! Sei mir gegrüsst!
Be greeted by me! Be greeted by me!
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Vocabulary:
scheiden = to part (geschieden - parted)
erscheinen = to appear (erschienen = appeared)
hehr = (old) sublime
Nicht laenger mehr = not longer anymore
weilen = to linger
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Grammar:
The pronouns in this text are ich, du, mich, dich, mir and dir, as well as the reflexive pronoun sich.
?Ich? and ?du? mean I and you, when they are doing something in the sentence, but ?mich? is me and ?dich? is you when they are the object of the sentence that receives the action. Ich grüße dich, du grüßt mich.
In his typical style, Wagner rarely starts with the subject, the thing or person that is doing something in the sentence, but with the object: Dich grüße ich. (I greet you.)
?Dir? and ?mir? are pronouns for the dative case. The dative changes articles (?der? turns into ?dem? e.g.) when the noun plays the role of a location ? in dir (in you) erwachen die Lieder (the songs awaken) ? or follow certain prepositions, e.g. aus ? er ist aus dir geschieden.
Similar as in other languages like Spanish, we can strengthen the sincerity of a statement with the dative pronoun: ?Sei gegrüßt? might be sufficient, but not for Elisabeth. She says, ?Sei mir gegrüßt.?
--
Translation and song facts provided by the Berlin-based writer and German tutor Bernd Hendricks whose book "Ach ich fühl's - German for Opera Singers in Three Acts: Studying, Speaking, Singing" can be purchased here:
http://www.amazon.com/Ach-ich-f%C3%BChls-Studying-Speaking/dp/1312463457/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413880914&sr=8-1&keywords=Ach+ich+f%C3%BChl%27s+German+for+Opera+Singers
And his blog accessed here: https://achichfuehls.wordpress.com/