Singer's morning song
(Poet's title: Sängers Morgenlied)
Set by Schubert:
D 163
[February 27, 1815]
D 165
[March 1, 1815]
Süßes Licht! Aus goldenen Pforten
Brichst du steigend durch die Nacht,
Schöner Tag, du bist erwacht.
Mit geheimnisvollen Worten,
In melodischen Akkorden,
Grüß ich deine Rosenpracht.
Ach! der Liebe sanftes Wehen
Schwellt mir das bewegte Herz,
Sanft, wie ein geliebter Schmerz.
Dürft’ ich nur in goldnen Höhen
Mich im Morgenduft ergehen!
Sehnsucht zieht mich himmelwärts.
Und der Seele kühnes Streben
Trägt im stolzen Riesenlauf
Durch die Wolken mich hinauf. –
Doch mit sanftem Geisterbeben
Dringt das Lied ins inn’re Leben,
Löst den Sturm melodisch auf.
Vor den Augen wird es helle;
Freundlich auf der zarten Spur
Weht der Einklang der Natur,
Und begeistert rauscht die Quelle,
Munter tanzt die flücht’ge Welle
Durch des Morgens stille Flur.
Und von süßer Lust durchdrungen
Webt sich zarte Harmonie
Durch des Lebens Poesie,
Was die Seele tief durchklungen,
Was berauscht der Mund gesungen,
Glüht in hoher Melodie.
Des Gesanges muntern Söhnen
Weicht im Leben jeder Schmerz,
Und nur Liebe schwellt ihr Herz.
In des Liedes heil’gen Tönen
Und im Morgenglanz des Schönen
Fliegt die Seele himmelwärts.
Sweet light! Out of golden doors
You break as you climb through the night.
Beautiful day! You have woken up.
With mysterious words,
In melodious chords,
I greet your rosy majesty!
Oh! The gentle sighing of love
Swells my responsive heart,
Gentle, like a beloved pain.
If only I were able to go up to those golden heights
And indulge in the morning fragrance!
Yearning draws me up towards heaven.
And the bold striving of the soul
With a proud gigantic leap carries
Me upwards through the clouds.
But with a soft stirring of the spirit
The song penetrates the life within,
Breaking up the storm with its melody.
Before my eyes everything becomes bright;
On the delicate path, in a friendly way,
The unison of nature is heard,
And the spring burbles with excitement,
The flowing waves dance with delight
Through the still meadow of the morning.
And shot through with sweet delight
Delicate harmony is woven
Through the poetry of life.
Whatever resounds deep within the soul,
Whatever is sung by the enraptured mouth,
Glows in exalted melody.
The merry sons of song
Soak up every pain in life,
And only love swells your heart,
In the holy notes of song
And in beauty’s morning glow
The soul flies towards heaven.
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:
Clouds Dancing Day Doors and gates Eyes Fields and meadows Fire Flying, soaring and gliding Giants Gold Harmony Hearts Heaven, the sky Leaping and jumping Light Longing and yearning Melody Morning and morning songs Mouths Night and the moon Pain Paths Poetry Red and purple Smells Songs (general) Soul Springs, sources and fountains Storms Striving Sweetness Waking up Waves – Welle Weaving
It is difficult to recapture the genuine hopes for a new beginning that link some new regimes to the ideology of dawn. The October Revolution in Russia in 1917 was famously triggered by the sounding of the guns of the battleship Aurora (Dawn). When Tony Blair appeared at London’s South Bank as day was breaking on 2nd May 1997 it was inevitable that he would link this particular dawn with the new age of New Labour that so many people seemed to be longing for. In both cases, the power of the image related more to the dark night that seemed to be coming to an end (Tsarist misrule or Conservative ‘sleaze’) than to realistic hopes for the new regime.
Theodor Körner (1791 – 1813) must have written ‘Sängers Morgenlied‘ at some point in the dark ‘night’ of the French occupation, since it was first published in his collection Knospen (Buds) in 1810, when the poet was still only 19. He would have been 15 at the time of the German states’ total humiliation after the Battle of Jena and the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. By the time that Schubert came to set the text to music, Körner had already been killed in the War of Liberation. He could not have avoided reading the poem as Körner’s greeting of the new regime that was about to be established in the wake of Napoleon’s defeat. As Schubert was composing, the new world was being created at the Congress of Vienna, taking place all around him (it would turn out not to be as magnificent as predicted, needless to say).
The appearance of the first light of day is immediately presented as a victory over night. The victor wears splendid colours, gold and red, and is greeted with song. This leads to the next cluster of images, connected with discord being resolved in harmony, words being linked with music, the whole of nature’s diversity (ranging from storm clouds to the stillness of the meadows below) coming into ‘unison’. The morning song as it is being performed allows the singer to respond inwardly to the outer world. All of human experience ‘resounds’ in this very hymn. The pain that is inherent to our life makes its own contribution to the harmony since it is part of what it is to love. Whereas the text begins top down (light is pouring out of the sky onto the earth on this new day) it ends with us being lifted, from the bottom up, as the song takes us towards the heavens.
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Original Spelling and note on the text Sängers Morgenlied Süßes Licht! Aus goldnen Pforten Brichst du steigend1 durch die Nacht. Schöner Tag! Du bist erwacht. Mit geheimnißvollen Worten, In melodischen Accorden Grüß' ich deine Rosenpracht! Ach! der Liebe sanftes Wehen Schwellt mir das bewegte Herz, Sanft, wie ein geliebter Schmerz. Dürft' ich nur in goldnen Höhen, Mich im Morgenduft ergehen! Sehnsucht zieht mich himmelwärts. Und der Seele kühnes Streben Trägt im stolzen Riesen-Lauf Durch die Wolken mich hinauf. - Doch mit sanftem Geisterbeben Dringt das Lied ins inn're Leben, Löst den Sturm melodisch auf. Vor den Augen wird es helle; Freundlich auf der zarten Spur Weht der Einklang der Natur, Und begeistert rauscht die Quelle, Munter tanzt die flücht'ge Welle Durch des Morgens stille Flur. Und von süßer Lust durchdrungen Webt sich zarte Harmonie Durch des Lebens Poesie, Was die Seele tief durchklungen, Was berauscht der Mund gesungen, Glüht in hoher Melodie. Des Gesanges muntern Söhnen Weicht im Leben jeder Schmerz, Und nur Liebe schwellt ihr Herz, In des Liedes heil'gen Tönen, Und im Morgenglanz des Schönen Fliegt die Seele himmelwärts. 1 Schubert was working from an edition of the text which contained a mistake here. Körner originally wrote ´siegend´(as you achieve victory), but the word was printed wrongly as ´singend´(as you sing). Schubert realised that this could not be correct, so changed the word to ´steigend´(as you climb).
Confirmed by Peter Rastl with Knospen von Theodor Körner. Leipzig bei Georg Joachim Göschen. 1810, pages 101-103; and with Theodor Körner’s Gedichte. [Erster Theil.] Neueste Auflage. Wien 1815. Bey B. Ph. Bauer, pages 77-78.
To see an early edition of the text, go to page 313 [Erstes Bild 383] here: https://download.digitale-sammlungen.de/BOOKS/download.pl?id=bsb10701039