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    AC Benus
  • AC Benus
  • Author
  • 02/22/2022
  • 384 Words
  • 742 Views
  • 5 Comments
Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

Translation Trashbin - 30. Du liebst mich nicht

...more words for music...

.

Here is my performance translation for Schubert's setting of the Platen Ghazal. Being a performance translation, the idea is to convey the spirit of the lyrics, but do so in a way that is appropriate for the weight of the music; that is often not easy to achieve.

Please read along while listening to the music if you can. The video link follows the text.

 

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Performance Translation of

Schubert’s Du liebst mich nicht

by August von Platen

 

 

Du liebst mich nicht

 

Mein Herz ist zerrissen, du liebst mich nicht!

Du ließest mich's wissen, du liebst mich nicht!

 

Wiewohl ich dir flehend und werbend erschien,

Und liebebeflissen, du liebst mich nicht!

 

Du hast es gesprochen, mit Worten gesagt,

Mit allzugewissen, du liebst mich nicht!

 

So soll ich die Sterne, so soll ich den Mond,

Die Sonne vermissen? du liebst mich nicht!

 

Was blüht mir die Rose, was blüht der Jasmin,

Was blühn die Narzissen? du liebst (du liebst) mich

nicht (du liebst) (du liebst mich nicht!)

 

So soll ich die Sterne, so soll ich den Mond,

Die Sonne vermissen? du liebst (du liebst) mich nicht!

 

Was blüht mir die Rose, was blüht der Jasmin,

Was blühn die Narzissen? du liebst (du liebst) mich

nicht (du liebst) (du liebst mich nicht!)

 

----------------------------------

 

For You Love Not Me

 

My heart’s torn to pieces, for you love not me!

You boldly deny this, for you love not me!

 

I wooed and cajoled, I stood there before you,

To vow no prejudice, for you love not me!

 

You have the words spoken, you feel certain resolve

Love equals cowardice, for you love not me!

 

Therefore, I’ll shun the stars, avoid the moon,

And all sunlight dismiss, for you love not me!

 

Whyfor bloom the roses, why jasmines’ scent,

Why lift the narcissus, for you love (you love) not

me (you love) (you love not me!)

 

Therefore, I’ll shun the stars, avoid the moon,

And all sunlight dismiss, for you (for you) love not me!

 

Whyfor bloom the roses, why jasmines’ scent,

Why lift the narcissus, for you (you love) not

me (you love) (you love not me!)

 

 

 

_

Copyright © 2018 AC Benus; All Rights Reserved.
  • Love 3
Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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AC Benus

August von Platen wrote this love Ghazal to a young man he named Schmidtlein while they were college classmates in 1818. Platen was later in the intimate circle of several Gay men of letters in Vienna, including Schubert, who came to set this Ghazal as a Lied (D. 756b), along with several others written by Platen. Platen also wrote a series of love Sonnets to Schmidtlein. 

Edited by AC Benus
  • Love 3
Aditus

I'm not sure if I should mention Heine's poem with the same title in this context, which I always understood as a retort to Platen. I do not want to judge their war, which in the end resulted in their respective emigration to France or rather Italy.  Schubert and several other composers were inspired by Heine's as well as Platen's poems  a fact which speaks for itself in my opinion.

The theme Du liebst mich nicht still inspires  songwriters, here is an example from 1992, I believe:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt6a14H4R1g

I hope I'm not too off topic.

 

 

AC Benus
On 2/23/2022 at 12:14 AM, Aditus said:

I'm not sure if I should mention Heine's poem with the same title in this context, which I always understood as a retort to Platen. I do not want to judge their war, which in the end resulted in their respective emigration to France or rather Italy.  Schubert and several other composers were inspired by Heine's as well as Platen's poems  a fact which speaks for itself in my opinion.

The theme Du liebst mich nicht still inspires  songwriters, here is an example from 1992, I believe:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt6a14H4R1g

I hope I'm not too off topic.

 

 

Thanks, @Aditus. For a taste of how others have translated Platen, take a look at Edward Carpenter's interpretations here:

https://gayauthors.org/story/ac-benus/the-great-mirror-of-same-sex-love-prose/49

 

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