Sorry about the lack of umlaut. I don't know how to do them on this machine (no number pad!)

I've just had a rehearsal with a singer who is singing Brahms' Vergebliches Staendchen for her Grade 5 singing exam on Friday, in English. Her teacher has lent her a photocopy which has no publisher listed but says "*English text Copyright by Frederick Fuller. Reproduced by permission of the translator." I suppose it's possible it's been downloaded from the Web. Anyway, the translation of the minor key 3rd verse bears no resemblance to the sense of the German after the first line and to my mind pretty much misses the whole point of the song! I'm curious to know what the translation is in the version listed in the ABRSM syllabus which has a footnote saying "*Edition with English performing translation". The recommended volume is The Art of Song, Grades 1-5, Vol.I (Peters EP7441 or 7451). There's obviously no way the candidate can change the version she's using at this stage, and as editions of Public Domain music are only given for identification I have to assume she won't be penalised for using a lousy translation.

Verse 1 is sung in the character of the man serenading his girl outside her house and trying to talk her into letting him in. In verse 2 the girl tells him that she's taking her mother's advice and not trusting him. The general sense of the German of verse 3 tries to get her sympathy: "It's cold out here. the wind's freezing, open the door". The English in the version I have here is "The night wind is bitter, I can no longer stay. Love is a tender flower, blooms but for one brief hour, don't the wise men say "gather ye rosebuds while ye may"? What? After that he's presumably gone and the last verse, with the girl telling him to go home to bed, is superfluous!!

Anyone got the other version?

http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.ht...ml?TextId=17639

Check it out on this site - I think you are right about the versino you have being "off"

QUOTE (lafrog @ Nov 28 2004, 04:19 PM)

http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.ht...ml?TextId=17639 Check it out on this site - I think you are right about the version you have being "off"

Thanks very much for the link. It gives the German text and a literal translation, but not one suitable for singing. I would still very much like to know what the English text is in the edition listed in the ABRSM syllabus, which is an English performing translation. I know it's very difficult to produce a good singable English translation that matches a German text even moderately closely because the word order of the two languages is so different.

If you need help, I live in Germany and speak German! Don't hesitate to ask!

QUOTE (july @ Nov 29 2004, 06:59 PM)

If you need help, I live in Germany and speak German! Don't hesitate to ask!

gut....i studiere deutsch in meiner Schule.... (aber...mein deutsch ist fruchtbar)