The missed hour
(Poet's title: Die verfehlte Stunde)
Set by Schubert:
D 409
[April 1816]
Quälend ungestilltes Sehnen
Pocht mir in empörter Brust.
Liebe, die mir Seel und Sinnen
Schmeichelnd wusste zu gewinnen,
Wiegt dein zauberisches Wähnen
Nur in Träume kurzer Lust
Und erweckt zu Tränen?
Süß berauscht in Tränen
An des Lieben Brust mich lehnen,
Arm um Arm gestrickt,
Mund auf Mund gedrückt,
Das nur stillt mein Sehnen.
Ach, ich gab ihm keine Kunde,
Wusst’ es selber nicht zuvor;
Und nun beb ich so beklommen:
Wird der Traute, wird er kommen?
Still und günstig ist die Stunde,
Nirgends droht ein horchend Ohr
Dem geheimen Bunde.
Treu im sel’gen Bunde
An des Lieben Brust mich lehnen,
Arm um Arm gestrickt,
Mund auf Mund gedrückt,
Das nur stillt mein Sehnen.
Hör ich leise Tritte rauschen,
Denk ich: ah, da ist er schon!
Ahndung hat ihm wohl verkündet,
Dass die schöne Zeit sich findet,
Wonn’ um Wonne frei zu tauschen. –
Doch sie ist schon halb entflohn
Bei vergebnem Lauschen.
Mit entzücktem Lauschen
An des Lieben Brust mich lehnen,
Arm um Arm gestrickt,
Mund auf Mund gedrückt,
Das nur stillt mein Sehnen.
Täuschen wird vielleicht mein Sehnen,
Hofft’ ich, des Gesanges Lust.
Ungestümer Wünsche Glühen
Lindern sanfte Melodieen. –
Doch das Lied enthob mit Stöhnen
Tief eratmend sich der Brust
Und erstarb in Tränen.
Süß berauscht in Thränen
An des Lieben Brust mich lehnen,
Arm um Arm gestrickt,
Mund auf Mund gedrückt,
Das nur stillt mein Sehnen.
A tormenting, untamed longing
Is pounding in my rebellious breast.
Love, which took over my soul and my reason
By knowing how to win them over with flattery,
Does your magical deception hold sway
Only in the short delight of dreams
And make us wake up in tears?
Being sweetly intoxicated by tears,
Leaning on my beloved’s breast,
Knitted together arm in arm,
Mouth pressing on mouth,
That is the only thing that will calm my longing!
Oh, I did not send him a message,
I did not know about it myself beforehand;
And now I am trembling, so agitated:
Is he, my devoted one, is he going to come?
The hour is quiet and favourable,
There is never any threat of a listening ear
To eavesdrop on our secret union.
Faithful in this sacred union
Leaning on my beloved’s breast,
Knitted together arm in arm,
Mouth pressing on mouth,
That is the only thing that will calm my longing!
If I hear soft footsteps approaching
I think, ‘Ah, here he is now!’
Some presentiment must have informed him
That the beautiful moment was available
When we could freely exchange bliss for bliss. –
But it has already half flown by
Wasted in pointless listening.
Listening excitedly,
Leaning on my beloved’s breast,
Knitted together arm in arm,
Mouth pressing on mouth,
That is the only thing that will calm my longing!
Perhaps my longing would be tricked,
I hoped, by taking pleasure in song.
The burning of irrepressible desires
Can be soothed with gentle melodies. –
But the song gave way to a groaning
As my breast took a deep breath
And it died in tears.
Being sweetly intoxicated by tears,
Leaning on my beloved’s breast,
Knitted together arm in arm,
Mouth pressing on mouth,
That is the only thing that will calm my longing!
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.
☙
Themes and images in this text:
Arms and embracing Chest / breast Dreams Kissing Listening Longing and yearning Magic and enchantment Melody Mouths Songs (general) Sweetness Tears and crying
‘Wird er kommen?’ – ‘ah, da ist er schon!’ (Is HE going to come? – Ah, here HE is now!). So there can be no doubt that the person who did not show up was male. We know nothing else about him, and we can only speculate about why he failed to appear. We know more about the speaker, particular since so much is made bare about the expectations and frustrations experienced while waiting, but we have no definitive knowledge of the person’s gender, age, marital status or sexual orientation. We do not even know if the speaker is a fantasist. Does the absent lover exist anywhere outside of this anxious, tormented dreamer? Their ‘union’ has to be kept secret, so a number of scenarios would fit the context. One or both of them might be committed elsewhere, their liaison might be socially unacceptable for a number of reasons (sexual orientation, age, social class etc.). It might just be a case of the relationship being so secret that the male object of desire has never been informed of the speaker’s passion (and may not even be aware of the person’s existence).
The speaker is remarkably self-aware despite being in the throes of such an uncontrollable passion. She (let us go with this hypothesis) knows very well that being in love plays tricks on you. She realises that both her reason and her emotions are affected and that she has as much grip on reality as we have when we are dreaming. Yet, as in the most vivid of dreams, that does not make the experience any the less real or all-consuming. As she waits for him, she realises on one level that he is unlikely to arrive since she has not fixed up a rendezvous or let him know that she would be ‘in the usual place at the usual time’. Nevertheless, she cannot help interpreting every sound as his approaching footsteps; the only thing that is real for her here and now is his potential arrival and their consequent embrace and kiss. She even knows that she is likely to be disappointed and so decides to resort to a song (this poem itself?) as a way of soothing her pain. But of course it ends in tears.
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Original Spelling
Die verfehlte Stunde
Quälend ungestilltes Sehnen
Pocht mir in empörter Brust.
Liebe, die mir Seel' und Sinnen
Schmeichelnd wußte zu gewinnen,
Wiegt dein zauberisches Wähnen
Nur in Träume kurzer Lust,
Und erweckt zu Thränen?
Süß berauscht in Thränen
An des Lieben Brust mich lehnen,
Arm um Arm gestrickt,
Mund auf Mund gedrückt,
Das nur stillt mein Sehnen!
Ach, ich gab ihm keine Kunde,
Wußt' es selber nicht zuvor;
Und nun beb ich so beklommen:
Wird der Traute, wird er kommen?
Still und günstig ist die Stunde,
Nirgends droht ein horchend Ohr
Dem geheimen Bunde.
Treu im sel'gen Bunde
An des Lieben Brust mich lehnen,
Arm um Arm gestrickt,
Mund auf Mund gedrückt,
Das nur stillt mein Sehnen!
Hör ich leise Tritte rauschen,
Denk' ich: ah, da ist er schon!
Ahndung hat ihm wohl verkündet,
Daß die schöne Zeit sich findet,
Wonn' um Wonne frey zu tauschen. -
Doch sie ist schon halb entflohn
Bey vergebnem Lauschen.
Mit entzücktem Lauschen
An des Lieben Brust mich lehnen,
Arm um Arm gestrickt,
Mund auf Mund gedrückt,
Das nur stillt mein Sehnen!
Täuschen wird vielleicht mein Sehnen,
Hofft' ich, des Gesanges Lust.
Ungestümer Wünsche Glühen
Lindern sanfte Melodieen. -
Doch das Lied enthob mit Stöhnen
Tief erathmend sich der Brust,
Und erstarb in Thränen.
Süß berauscht in Thränen
An des Lieben Brust mich lehnen,
Arm um Arm gestrickt,
Mund auf Mund gedrückt,
Das nur stillt mein Sehnen!
Confirmed by Peter Rastl with Schubert’s source, A. W. Schlegel’s poetische Werke. Erster Theil. Neueste Auflage. Wien 1816. Bey B. Ph. Bauer, pages 135-137; with August Wilhelm Schlegels poetische Werke. Erster Theil. Heidelberg bey Mohr und Zimmer 1811, pages 166-168; and with Gedichte von August Wilhelm Schlegel. Tübingen, in der J. G. Cotta’schen Buchhandlung. 1800, pages 35-37.
First published in Taschenbuch und Almanach zum geselligen Vergnügen – von W.G. Becker für 1796, with a different refrain
To see an early edition of the text, go to page 135 [143 von 206] here: http://digital.onb.ac.at/OnbViewer/viewer.faces?doc=ABO_%2BZ204921909