When Schubert selected texts about water for musical setting, in general the water was flowing. Rivers, lakes and the sea involve emotional as well as physical change. Ponds are slightly different, though. It is not that the water is stagnant, or that the poetic persona is depressed, it is more that the pond represents a place of waiting or anticipation. Whatever is going to happen has not happened yet.
Schiller’s Die Erwartung evokes the frustration of a man waiting outside at sunset for his lover to arrive. In one of many interruptions, when he realises that he has only imagined her approach, he reflects on the circling swan endlessly swimming around the moonlit pond, just as his own thoughts frustratingly circle endlessly as he waits.
O! lösche deine Fackel, Tag! Hervor,
Du geist'ge Nacht, mit deinem holden Schweigen.
Breit um uns her den purpurroten Flor,
Umspinne uns mit geheimnisvollen Zweigen.
Der Liebe Wonne flieht des Lauschers Ohr,
Sie flieht des Strahles unbescheidnen Zeugen;
Nur Hesper, der Verschwiegene, allein
Darf still herblickend ihr Vertrauter sein.
Rief es von ferne nicht leise,
Flüsternden Stimmen gleich?
Nein, der Schwan ist's, der die Kreise
Zieht durch den Silberteich.
Oh, put your torch out, day! Come forward,
Spiritual night, with your lovely silence!
Spread out before us the crimson-red veil,
Spin mysterious branches around us!
The bliss of love flees from the ear of the listener,
It flees from the view of curious witnesses!
It is only Hesperus, so discreet,
Who can be trusted to continue to look on.
Wasn't that someone calling gently from the distance
Like whispering voices?
No, it is the swan, drawing a circle
Through the silver pond.
Schiller, Die Erwartung D 159
In Mayrhofer’s Liane, there is another pond, another swan and another assignation. The secluded pond is the beloved’s favourite spot, but is more connected with anticipation than with fulfilment.
»Hast du Lianen nicht gesehen?«
»Ich sah sie zu dem Teiche gehn.«
Durch Busch und Hecken rennt er fort
Und kommt an ihren Lieblingsort.
Die Linde spannt ihr grünes Netz,
Aus Rosen tönt des Bachs Geschwätz,
Die Blätter rötet Sonnengold,
Und Alles ist der Freude hold.
Liane fährt auf einem Kahn,
Vertraute Schwäne nebenan,
Sie spielt die Laute, singt ein Lied,
Wie Liebe in ihr selig blüht.
Das Schifflein schwanket wie es will;
Sie senkt das Haupt und denket still
Nur ihn, der im Gebüsche ist,
Sie bald in seine Arme schließt.
"You haven't seen Liane, have you?"
"I saw her going to the pond."
He runs off through the bushes and hedgerows
And comes to her favourite place.
The lime tree stretches out its green net,
The brook's prattling sounds out from amongst the roses,
The gold of the sun makes the leaves red,
And everything becomes beauteous with joy.
Liane is riding on a boat,
With faithful swans at the side.
She is playing a lute, singing a song
About how love is blossoming in her, making her happy.
The little ship sways as it goes its own way,
She lowers her head and quietly thinks
About him, just him, he who is in the bushes
And who will soon fold her in his arms.
Mayrhofer, Liane D 298
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Descendant of:
WATERTexts with this theme:
- Die Erwartung, D 159 (Friedrich von Schiller)
- Die Spinnerin, D 247 (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
- Abendlied (Groß und rotentflammet), D 276 (Friedrich Leopold Graf zu Stolberg-Stolberg)
- Liane, D 298 (Johann Baptist Mayrhofer)
- Der Jäger, D 795/14 (Wilhelm Müller)