Hermann Lingg (1820 Lindau – 1905 Munich)

Summary

‘Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer’ Op. 105 no. 2 (comp. Aug. 1886, publ. Oct. 1888)

ACCORDING TO Kalbeck, ‘Immer leiser’ was recommended to Brahms by Hanslick. He recalled:

[Brahms] only attempted to set the beautiful poem by Hermann Lingg … with trepidation and misgiving. The content initially spoke to him as little as the form. The analocuthon in the second verse [Kalbeck is referring to the ungrammatical interruption in the line ‘wenn ich bleich und kalt’, which lacks a verb] caused him insurmountable difficulties, but he helped himself out of them by handling the two lines ‘Eh’ die Maienlüfte wehen, eh’ die Drossel singt im Wald’ as a link, just like the corresponding lines of the first verse, although they belong much more closely than those to the ending of the verse; and he transformed the feminine rhymes ‘wehen’ and ‘sehen’ through elision of the closing E's into masculine ones. The pauses after ‘singt im Wald’ and ‘Willst du mich’, which are in fact forbidden … caused by the handling of the poem as a strophic song, are half-physiologically justified through the faltering of the voice … One should have the feeling that the song costs the (imaginary) singer her life.

Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer, Ever stiller grows my slumber,

Nur wie Schleier liegt mein Kummer Like a mere veil, my worry lies

Zitternd über mir. Trembling upon me.

Oft im Traume hör ich dich Often, while dreaming, I hear you

Rufen draus vor meiner Tür, Call outside my door.

Niemand wacht und öffnet dir, No one harks and opens to you,

Ich erwach’ und weine bitterlich. I awake and weep bitterly.

Ja, ich werde sterben müssen, Yes, I will have to die;

Eine Andre wirst du küssen, You will kiss another,

Wenn ich bleich und kalt, when I am pale and cold.

Eh die Maienlüfte wehn, Before the May breezes blow,

Eh die Drossel singt im Wald: Before the thrush sings in the forest:

Willst du mich noch einmal sehn, Do you wish to see me once more?

Komm, o komme bald! Come, oh come soon!