The autumn evening
(Poet's title: Der Herbstabend)
Set by Schubert:
D 405
Schubert did not set the stanzas in italics[April 1816]
Part of The Theresa Grob Album
Abendglocken-Halle zittern
Dumpf durch Moorgedüfte hin.
Hinter jenes Kirchhofs Gittern
Blasst des Dämmerlichts Karmin.
Aus umstürmten Lindenzweigen
Rieselt welkes Laub herab,
Und gebleichte Gräser beugen
Sich auf ihr bestimmtes Grab.
Freundin! wankt, im Abendwinde,
Bald auch Gras auf meiner Gruft,
Schwärmt das Laub um ihre Linde
Ruhelos in feuchter Luft,
Wenn schon meine Rasenstelle
Nur dein welker Kranz noch ziert,
Und auf Lethes leiser Welle
Sich mein Nebelbild verliert:
Lausche dann! Im Blätterschauer
Wird es dir vernehmlich wehn:
Jenseits schwindet jede Trauer;
Treue wird sich wiedersehn!
The echoes of evening bells are reverberating
But are muffled as they are carried on the moorland breezes;
Behind the fencing of that churchyard
The crimson light of sunset is turning pale.
From the branches of lime trees battered in storms
Dead leaves flutter down,
And faded leaves of grass bend down
Over her designated grave.
Friend! The evening wind will blow
Grass over my grave too very soon,
The foliage will blow around its lime tree
Without respite in the damp air,
When my own spot in the turf
Has already been decorated with your faded wreath,
And on the gentle waves of Lethe
My misty image has vanished:
Listen then! In the shower of leaves
You will clearly hear it blowing:
Over there all mourning disappears;
We shall definitely see each other again!
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:
Autumn Bells Bending Evening and the setting sun Fading and losing colour Grass Graves and burials Heathland and moors Leaves and foliage Lethe Lime trees (Lindenbaum) Red and purple Storms Waves – Welle Wind Wreaths and garlands
The setting seems to be one of those dreary autumn days that feel worse than winter. As the sun sets the light is dull and the evening bells sound muffled. The leaves that fall have none of the fire or beauty that they had earlier in the season, they are now simply dead. The grass too has faded. Like the lime-trees, we too have been buffetted by storms.
The scenario is open to interpretation, of course, but one possibility might be that the poet’s beloved (the text is addressed to a female friend, ‘Freundin’, stanza 3) is mortally ill. She has not yet died, since the grass is beating down on the place designated (or ‘specified’) for her grave, not on the grave itself. Like so many young women at the time she may have caught a serious infection (cholera, tuberculosis, smallpox?) or she may have suffered serious complications in childbirth. The poet consoles himself with the idea that he soon will be joining her in death and that the faded funeral wreath on her grave will be blown onto his.
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Original Spelling Der Herbstabend Abendglocken-Halle zittern Dumpf durch Moorgedüfte hin; Hinter jenes Kirchhofs Gittern Blaßt des Dämmerlichts Karmin. Aus umstürmten Lindenzweigen Rieselt welkes Laub herab, Und gebleichte Gräser beugen Sich auf ihr bestimmtes Grab. Freundin! wankt, im Abendwinde, Bald auch Gras auf meiner Gruft, Schwärmt das Laub um ihre Linde Ruhelos in feuchter Luft, Wenn schon meine Rasenstelle Nur dein welker Kranz noch ziert, Und auf Lethes leiser Welle Sich mein Nebelbild verliert: Lausche dann! Im Blätterschauer Wird es dir vernehmlich wehn: Jenseits schwindet jede Trauer; Treue wird sich wiedersehn!
Confirmed with Gedichte von J. G. von Salis. Gesammelt durch seinen Freund Friedrich Matthisson. Zürich, bey Orell, Gessner, Füssli und Compagnie. 1793, pages 33-34; with Gedichte von J.G. von Salis. Neue Auflage. Zürich, bey Orell Füßli und Compagnie. 1808, pages 94-95; and with Schubert’s source, Gedichte von J. G. von Salis. Neueste Auflage. Wien 1815. Bey B. Ph. Bauer, pages 87-88.
To see an early edition of the text, go to page 87 [101 von 192] here: http://digital.onb.ac.at/OnbViewer/viewer.faces?doc=ABO_%2BZ160622604