Evening serenade. To Lina. Based on a French original
(Poet's title: Abendständchen. An Lina. Nach dem Französischen)
Set by Schubert:
D 265
[August 23, 1815]
Sei sanft, wie ihre Seele,
Und heiter, wie ihr Blick,
O Abend! und vermähle
Mit seltner Treu das Glück.
Wenn alles schläft, und trübe
Die stille Lampe scheint,
Und hoffnungslose Liebe
Noch helle Tränen weint:
Will ich, laß mir’s gelingen!
Zu ihrem Fenster gehn,
Ein Lied von Liebe singen;
Und schmachtend nach ihr sehn.
Vielleicht, dass Klagetöne
Von meinem Saitenspiel
Mehr wirken auf die Schöne,
Mehr reizen ihr Gefühl;
Vielleicht daß meine Saiten
Und meine Fantasien
Ein Herz zur Liebe leiten,
Das unempfindlich schien.
Wenn sie, im sanften Schlummer
Durch Lieder gern gestört,
Halbträumend meinen Kummer
Und meine Leiden hört;
Dann bang, und immer bänger,
Von ihrem Lager steigt,
Und was er litt, ihr Sänger,
Sich selber überzeugt:
Dann leucht’ aus deiner Höhe
Herab, geliebter Mond!
Dass ich die Träne sehe,
Die meinen Schmerz belohnt.
Be as gentle as her soul
And as bright as her eyes
Oh evening, and marry
Happiness to such rare devotion.
When everything is asleep and
The quiet lamp shines dimly,
And hopeless love
Still weeps bright tears,
If I get the chance, I shall
Go to her window
To sing a song of love,
And look towards her, pining.
It may be that the lamenting tones
Of my stringed instrument
Will have more effect on the beautiful woman,
And will appeal more directly to her feelings.
It may be that my strings
And my imagination
Will lead a heart to love,
A heart that appeared to be insensitive.
When her gentle slumber
Is happily disturbed by songs
And half-dreaming she becomes aware of my grief
And she hears my suffering,
Then, increasingly anxious,
She will get up from where she is lying,
And what he suffered – her singer –
Will itself convince her:
Then, from your lofty position send your light
Down, beloved moon!
So that I can see the tear
Which will reward my pain.
All translations into English that appear on this website, unless otherwise stated, are by Malcolm Wren. You are free to use them on condition that you acknowledge Malcolm Wren as the translator and schubertsong.uk as the source. Unless otherwise stated, the comments and essays that appear after the texts and translations are by Malcolm Wren and are © Copyright.
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Themes and images in this text:
Dreams Evening and the setting sun Hearts Laments, elegies and mourning Light Night and the moon Serenades and songs at evening Sleep Soul Stringed instruments (unspecified) Tears and crying Windows
Despite the title, this is no serenade. It is a text about a serenade that is being planned, but we are not at all sure that it is really going to happen (‘Will ich, laß mir’s gelingen, / Zu ihrem Fenster geh’n’ could imply that he will only go to her window if he can ‘manage it’ or ‘succeed in’ overcoming some reservations). The speaker is aware that Lina (Caroline, presumably, though whether she has given him permission to shorten her name is not clear) is not yet sympathetic to his advances, and is wondering what approach to take to win her round. Of course he will need to play well and impress her with his inventiveness as a string player (the instrument is not specified; we don’t even know if it is plucked or bowed – guitar or violin? lute? viola d’amore?), but what tone should the song itself take? He decides that it will have to be an expression of his pain. This is surely an ambitious and risky strategy.
He wants to effect a change in her. At the beginning he addresses the pleasant evening and declares that her soul is similarly gentle and that the way she looks at people is bright. She sounds quite cheerful. However, his intention is that his song will stir her up and transform her attitude. When he turns at the end to the moon he begs it to illuminate the tears that will flow as a result of his stirring performance. This will repay his own pain.
In other words, it is all about him. He explicitly says that he is going to sing ‘a song about love’, i.e. his own frustration, rather than about the beloved. He knows he cannot get through to her when she is fully conscious; she needs to be ‘half-dreaming’ and to stagger out of bed, disturbed by the agony being expressed outside her window. He trusts that she is the sort of person that will actually enjoy being woken up by some wailing minstrel and who is then prepared to let herself be swayed by her (normally repressed) sensitivity to suffering.
It would be interesting to know what motivated Gabriele von Baumberg to create the persona of this poem. She did not live in a society where women would have been able to go out at night and serenade other women under their bedroom windows, so she is not presenting herself as the speaker. Is she, though, suggesting that as a woman she might understand more than male poets do about how to win round a woman when singing her a serenade? Might she be dropping a hint that flattery will get you nowhere, that there is no point in harping on her flaxen hair and rosy cheeks, that women are attracted to and by deeper things? Perhaps some women in her day did actually get turned on by whingeing men, though.
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Original Spelling Abendständchen. An Lina Sey sanft wie ihre Seele, Und heiter, wie ihr Blick, O Abend! und vermähle Mit selt'ner Treu das Glück. Wenn alles schläft, und trübe Die stille Lampe scheint, Und hoffnungslose Liebe Noch helle Thränen weint: Will ich, laß mir's gelingen! Zu ihrem Fenster gehn, Ein Lied von Liebe singen; Und schmachtend nach ihr sehn. Vielleicht, daß Klagetöne Von meinem Saitenspiel Mehr wirken auf die Schöne, Mehr reizen ihr Gefühl; Vielleicht daß meine Saiten Und meine Phantasie´n Ein Herz zur Liebe leiten, Das unempfindlich schien. Wenn sie, im sanften Schlummer Durch Lieder gern gestört, Halbträumend meinen Kummer Und meine Leiden hört; Dann bang, und immer bänger, Von ihrem Lager steigt, Und was er litt, ihr Sänger, Sich selber überzeugt: Dann leucht' aus deiner Höhe Herab, geliebter Mond! Daß ich die Thräne sehe, Die meinen Schmerz belohnt.
Confirmed by Peter Rastl with Schubert’s probable source Sämmtliche Gedichte Gabrielens von Baumberg. Wien, gedruckt bey Joh. Thom. Edl. v. Trattnern, k.k. Hofbuchdrucker und Buchhändler, 1800, pages 243-244; and with Gedichte von Gabriele Batsányi geb. Baumberg. Gedruckt bey J.V.Degen. Wien, 1805, pages 26-28, with the title An Lina and subtitle (Abendständchen, nach dem Französischen. Evening Serenade, after the French).
To see an early edition of the text, go to page 243 (275 von 350) here: http://digital.onb.ac.at/OnbViewer/viewer.faces?doc=ABO_%2BZ103534702