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Gustav Mahler

Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer)

I

When my darling has her wedding-day,

her joyous wedding-day,

I will have my day of mourning!

I will go to my little room,

my dark little room,

and weep, weep for my darling, for my dear darling!

Blue flower! Do not wither!

Sweet little bird - you song on the green heath!

Alas, how can the world be so fair?

Chirp! Chirp!

Do not sing; do not bloom!

Spring is over.

All singing must now be done.

At night when I go to sleep,

I think of my sorrow,

of my sorrow!

II

I walked across the fields this morning;

dew still hung on every blade of grass.

The merry finch spoke to me:

"Hey! Isn't it? Good morning! Isn't it?

You! Isn't it becoming a fine world?

Chirp! Chirp! Fair and sharp!

How the world delights me!"

Also, the bluebells in the field

merrily with good spirits

tolled out to me with bells (ding, ding)

their morning greeting:

"Isn't it becoming a fine world?

Ding, ding! Fair thing!

How the world delights me!"

And then, in the sunshine, the world suddenly began to glitter;

everything gained sound and color

in the sunshine!

Flower and bird, great and small!

"Good day, is it not a fine world?

Hey, isn't it? A fair world?"

Now will my happiness also begin?

No, no - the happiness I mean can never bloom!

III

I have a red-hot knife, a knife in my breast.

O woe! It cuts so deeply

into every joy and delight.

Alas, what an evil guest it is!

Never does it rest or relax,

not by day or by night, when I would sleep.

O woe!

When I gaze up into the sky

I see two blue eyes there.

O woe! When I walk in the yellow field,

I see from afar her blond hair

waving in the wind.

O woe!

When I start from a dream

and hear the tinkle of her silvery laugh,

O woe!

Would that I lay on my black bier -

Would that I could never again open my eyes!

IV

The two blue eyes of my darling -

they have sent me into the wide world.

I had to take my leave of this well-beloved place!

O blue eyes, why did you gaze on me?

Now I will have eternal sorrow and grief.

I went out into the quiet night

well across the dark heath.

To me no one bade farewell.

Farewell! My companions are love and sorrow!

On the road there stands a linden tree,

and there for the first time I found rest in sleep!

Under the linden tree

that snowed its blossoms onto me -

I did not know how life went on, and all was well again!

All! All, love and sorrow

and world and dream!

Notes from the Symphony

The four songs are widely believed to reflect Mahler's melancholy over his failed love affair with the soprano Johanna Richter. In the first song, Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht, the protagonist mourns his beloved's marriage to another; this is followed by the most joyful song of the cycle, Ging heut Morgen übers Feld, where the protagonis sings of bluebells and chirping birds and sunshine - but is ultimately reminded once more of his sadness. In the third song, Ich hab'ein glühend Messer, he becomes openly angry: he is in pain, and everywhere he looks reminds him of his lost love, leading him to wish for death. Finally, in the fourth song, Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz, the protagonist has taken leave of his beloved and gone out into the world, finally finding calm repose under a linden tree. As the linden was symbolic of both love and death, we are left to wonder by what path the protagonist escaped his pain.