Ach, wie ist´s möglich dann  - (2019)    

Anonymous

for medium voice and piano

 

Ach, wie ist´s möglich dann,
Daß ich dich lassen kann,
Hab dich von Herzen lieb,
Das glaube mir!
Du hast das Herze mein
So sehr genommen ein,
Daß ich kein' Andern lieb,
Liebe so sehr.

Obschon das Glück nicht wollt,
Daß ich dein werden sollt,
So lieb ich dennoch dich,
Glaub's sicherlich!
Es soll kein Andrer sein,
Der mich soll nehmen ein,
Als du, o schönstes Kind,
Dir bleib ich treu!

Stoß mir das Herz entzwei,
Wenn du ein falsche Treu
Oder nur falsche Lieb
Spürest an mir!
Dir will ich jederzeit
Zu Diensten sein bereit,
Bis daß ich kommen werd
Unter die Erd.

Nach meinem Tod alsdann,
Auf daß du denkst daran,
Nimm an der Todtenbahr
Dieß Reimlein wahr:
Hier liegt begraben drein
Die dich geliebt allein,
Die dich geliebet hat
Bis in das Grab.
 

3 pages, circa 4' 15"

 

 

Oh, how is it that I
Would ever think to leave,
I hold you in my heart;
This, do believe.
This heart of mine is yours,
Completely, to ensure
No other love supplants
This love so pure.

And if the fates refuse
That yours I would so be,
I should love you still; this
Believe of me.
Another will not come
Who could steal me away
From you, o beauteous child;
True, I shall stay.

Dash this heart into two,
When comes a faithlessness,
And false love steals in,
Such to confess.
At anytime I'd serve
To prove to you my worth,
Until there I shall lie,
Under the earth.

After my death, perhaps
You'll think on this in time:
Writ on my catafalque
This modest rhyme:
Here lies one buried cold
Who'd loved you long ago,
Yes, had loved you always,
Through to the grave.

 

rhymed paraphrase of the composer

 

Copyright © 2019  Gary Bachlund   All international rights reserved.

 

 

 

A seemingly simple set of strophes, with the syllabic scheme 6.6.6.4, is an earlier anonymous text, the first strophe adapted later to a work with the same title.  The original is said to have been first written down around 1750-1780, and then revised and significantly changed about 50 years later by Helmine von Chézy - this newer poetry was then reprinted many times.  Ref: Deutscher Liederhort, collected by Ludwig Erk and Franz M. Böhme, circa 1850. The source used herein is reprinted in Deutsche Liebeslyrik, edited by Hans Wagener, Philipp Reclam jun. Stuttgart, 1995.

 

The storytelling structure rests on the last verse, a rhyme for the grave, proposing the whole. Thus the final four sentences return to the tonic major after a more serious moment in the parallel minor. The two-against-three gestures should be stressed per the performers' interpretive instincts.

 

 

 

 

The score is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this piano-vocal score.

 

Ach, wie ist´s möglich dann