Träume - (2015)    

Stefan Zweig

for soprano and piano

 

Du mußt dich ganz deinen Träumen vertrauen
Und ihr heimlichstes Wesen erlernen,
Wie sie sich hoch in den flutenden blauen
Fernen verlieren gleich wehenden Sternen.
Und wenn sie in deine Nächte glänzen
Und Wunsch und Wille, Geschenk und Gefahr
Lächelnd verknüpfen zu flüchtigen Kränzen,
So nimm sie wie milde Blüten ins Haar.
Und schenke dich ganz ihrem leuchtenden Spiele:
In ihnen ist Wahrheit des ewigen Scheins,
Schöne Schatten all deiner Ziele
Rinnen sie einst mit den Taten in Eins.

3 pages, circa 3' 15"

Stefan Zweig

 

 This text of Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) is found in his collection titled Die Lieder des Abends, from 1917.

 

You must wholly rely on your dreams
And learn from their hidden essence,
As they themselves high in a blue-flooded sky
Seem distant, quite lost like the wafted stars.
And when they glisten throughout your nights,
And desire and will, the bestowed and the risked
All are joyously woven into fleeting wreaths,
Receive them as if gentle flowers for your hair.
And give yourself over to their illuminating games:
In them is the eternal truth of illusion,
Beautiful shadows of all your goals
Flowing at once with actions into oneness.

 

paraphrase by the composer

 

 

The extended harmonies act functionally in long arches as the text is declaimed lyrically. Rubato is of course recommended, as so often ritardando and a tempo markings recur.

 

 

The score for Träume 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.

 

Träume