UriText

Das Wandern
Travel

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

To wander, that’s what millers like!
A miller can’t be any good
Who’s not got wandering in his blood.

Water has shown us the way.
It doesn’t rest by day or night,
Moving on, its sole delight.

See, the mill wheels are the same,
They don’t like to be at rest,
Turning tirelessly, that’s best.

Millstones, heavy as they are
Join the progress of the dance;
They’d go faster given a chance.

To wander is what I would like,
So, Master, Mistress, if you please,
Let me travel at my ease.

Wohin?
Where to?

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

I heard a brook, it was rushing,
Gushing from its rocky source
Deep down into the valley,
A bright, fresh, wondrous force.

I can’t think what came over me,
Or what anyone may have said,
But I had to go down after it
To find out where it led.

Down I went and further
Always following the brook
As it rushed down on its way,
So bright and clear its look.

Is this the road to follow?
Where am I being led?
Your noisy, ceaseless babbling
Has befuddled my poor head!

?
Why do I speak of babbling,
What a strange word to say!
The water-nymphs are dancing,
Singing their roundelay.

Leave them, my friend, to sing and dance,
Just you go on your way,
Go on the way that mill-wheels do
Below the pool all day.

Halt!
Stop!

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

I see a mill there, gleaming
Through the alder trees,
And hear above the noise around
The great wheel make its roaring sound.

The sound, it is so welcome,
The song the mill-wheels sing,
The house is so inviting,
The windows, sparkling.

The sun is shining brightly
Up in a cloudless sky.
So tell me now, my little brook,
Is this the reason why?

Danksagung an den Bach
Giving Thanks to the Brook

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

Is this what was meant,
My dear babbling friend,
By your singing and ringing,
Was this your intent?

‘Find the miller’s daughter.’
That was the sense.
‘Find the miller’s daughter.’
Oh, I’ve been so dense!

Now, did she send you
Or did you cast a spell,
That is what I want to know.
Did she send you? Well?

Be that as it may,
It’s here I shall stay.
For here I have found what I sought;
Here I’ll stay now, come what may.

I have asked them for work
And of that there’s enough.
My hands and my heart are quite full;
And that’s more than enough.

Am Feierabend
After the Day's Work

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

Had I a thousand
Arms or more,
If I could drive
The mill wheel’s roar,
If through whole woods
My breath could blow,
If I could make the mill-wheels go….

But, oh, my arms are far too weak.
What I can lift or carry as such,
Why, any lad could do as much.
And there I sit, in with the rest
As the sun sets in the west;
The Miller says to everyone,
I’m pleased with all the work you’ve done.
The miller’s daughter turns to call,
Good night, a good night to you all.

Der Neugierige
The Need to Know

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

I shall not ask a flower
Nor shall I ask a star,
For they just cannot tell me
What the answers are.

You see, I am no gardener
And the stars are up too high,
So, my brook, you tell me,
Did my heart tell me a lie?

Brook, my dearest friend,
Say, why so still today?
It is only one small word
I want to hear you say.

One small word is ‘yes’
The other one is ‘no’.
These words mark the limits
Of the world I know.

Oh brook, my dearest friend,
This is not at all like you,
You know that I’ll tell no-one else;
Does she love me? Tell me, do!

Ungeduld
Exasperation

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

I’d cut it in the bark of every tree,
Engrave it in each piece of stone,
I’d sow beds of quick-growing cress
So she’d soon see,
On scraps of paper I would say,
‘I’m yours for ever and a day!’

A starling I would like to train
Till he could say it loud and clear,
Till he could say it in my voice,
Could make my burning passion plain.
Then he’d sing loudly at her door,
‘My heart is yours for evermore!’

I’d like to float it on the morning breeze
To whisper it through the murmuring trees,
To let it radiate from every flower,
Carrying on their scent from near and far.
Water! is turning mill-wheels all you do?
Bear her the message: ‘I love you!’

I’d thought it must show in my eyes,
That all could see my burning cheeks
And read it from my silent lips,
That with each breath she’d realise,
But she remains quite unaware
That she’s the one for whom I care.

Morgengruss
A Morning Greeting

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

‘Good morning, Mistress,’ is all I said,
So why do you turn away your head
As if something were wrong?
Is that greeting such a pain?
When I look, is that a strain?
Why then, I’ll move along.

But let me stand some way away
Within sight of your window.
Let me stay, watching from afar
To see your dear, blond head
Appear at the gate, your clear eyes
Blue as the morning star.

Eyes, still drunk with heavy sleep,
Flowers weighed down by dew.
But why do you hide them from the light?
Were your dreams so sweet last night
That you close your eyes and weep
To find their peace anew?

Cast off now those musty dreams.
So fresh and new the morning seems
That the Lord has made;
The lark is singing in the sky,
I heed the depths of my heart’s cry:
‘Let love’s call be obeyed.’

Des Müllers Blumen
The Miller's Flowers

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

See those flowers by the brook?
They all have light-blue eyes, you look.
The brook’s the miller’s friend, you know;
My sweet-heart’s eyes are light-blue, so
That’s why they are my flowers.

Under the window of her room
I’ll plant these flowers in full bloom,
To call to her when night is deep
And she is overcome by sleep –
You know just what to say -

And as she closes her dear eyes
To sleep in perfect peace, no sighs!
Then whisper as if in a dream –
Forget me not, forget me not –
Precisely what I mean.

When she looks out at break of day
Look up to her in a loving way,
Dewdrops in your eyes.
They will be the tears I shed
When I laid out this flower bed.

Tränenregen
A Shower of Tears

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

We sat side by side, so close,
In the shade of the alder, and took
Our ease, so close, as we gazed
Down to the rippling brook.

The moon had also risen.
Closely followed by the stars –
All of us together
Were mirrored in the glass.

But I did not see the moon
Nor the bright stars’ twinkling light,
I was looking at her image,
At her eyes that were so bright.

I watched as she nodded, looking
Up from the joyous stream,
The flowers on the bank – so blue,
Nodded, fulfilment of my dream.

Below, sunk deep in the water
I could see the entire sky
And I felt it draw me closer
Down from the depths on high.

The water over the clouds and stars
Murmured so merrily,
Calling out in song and word:
Friend come down to me!

And then I stopped my tears, in vain,
As the mirror grew dull as loam,
She said: ‘Look, it’s going to rain.
Goodbye, I’m going home.’

Mein
Mine

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

Brook, now quit your babbling.
You wheels, you stop your gabbling
And birds both large and small,
Cease your warbling one and all.
For on this day one song alone
Shall sound throughout the land –
The Miller’s daughter now is mine,
She’s mine!

Spring, have you no other flowers?
Sun, won’t you increase your powers?
So then, I’m left alone,
Alone in this rapturous state,
Alone to celebrate my fate.

Pause
Pause

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

My lute’s now hanging on the wall
Draped with green ribbon overall.
I no longer sing, my heart’s too sore;
In rhyme I can’t tell it any more.

Once, however great the pain which caused my heart to burn,
To light-hearted song this pain I’d turn,
And as I sang some sweet, well-wrought lament,
My suffering was, I thought, quite evident.
How great now is the burden of my joy
That to contain it I can no earthly sound employ.

Rest then, dear lute, here on your nail,
And if a breeze should move your strings,
Or bee should brush them with its wings,
Dread anguish will my heart assail.

Why did I let the long, green ribbon fly
To touch the strings with mournful sigh?
Is that the echo of a love for which my heart still longs?
Or could it be the prelude, the promise of new songs?

Mit dem grünen Lautenbande
To go with the Green Ribbon

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

‘Pity, the green ribbon
Should fade here on the wall,
I am so fond of green.’
That, my love, is what you said.
I took and sent it to you instantly
So you’d enjoy the green.

Even if your man is flour-white,
Green shall have its due.
I like the colour too,
Because our love is evergreen,
The bloom of distant hope stays green,
That’s why we like that hue.

Now, thread the ribbon prettily,
Green ribbon, through your hair
As you’re so fond of green.
Then I shall know where love resides,
Then I shall know where hope abides,
Then I shall take to green!

Der Jäger
The Hunter

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

Why’s that hunter by the stream again?
Stay, bold, hunter, on your own terrain.
There’s no game for you here, d’you see,
Just a gentle doe, and she’s for me.
And if you want to come and take a look,
Put down your guns there by the brook,
And leave behind your yelping hounds
And mute your horn’s ear-splitting sounds,
And trim your beard – Oh, what a sight!
Else you will give my doe a fright.

But better still, stay in the woods,
Ignore the miller and his goods.
What would a fish do in a tree?
What would a squirrel want in a pond?
So, headstrong hunter, stay where you are,
Admire my mill-wheels from afar.
And if you want to win my darling’s favour,
Here’s what upsets her, heroic neighbour;
The wild boar leave the wood by night,
Break into the garden with their great might
And root and trample her well-tended crops.
Shoot the boar, make sure the damage stops!

Eifersucht und Stolz
Jealousy and Pride

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

Why so fast, distressed and wild, dear stream?
Why pursue the brash young hunter?
The miller’s girl’s the one to blame,
She’s fickle – love is just a game!

Did you see her at the gate last night?
Craning to see into the road?
Why, no nice girl’d behave like that
As the hunter goes by with his load.

Go, my stream and tell her that. But I’d be glad
If you didn’t tell her I was sad.
Tell her I’ve cut a pipe of reeds, and play
Songs and dances for the kids all day.

Die liebe Farbe
The Pleasant Colour

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

I will dress myself in green,
In weeping willow green,
My love loves green so much.
I’ll search out a cypress grove,
Through heath and heather I will rove,
My love loves green so much.

Up, hunt and away,
Up through heath and heather hunt the prey!
My love does love the chase.
The prey I’m hunting is called Death,
The heath I call Love’s dying breath,
My love does love the chase!

Dig my grave here on the lea,
With green turf now cover me.
No mourning cross, no flowers to be seen,
Green all around, nothing but green, but green,
My love’s so fond of green.

Die böse Farbe
The Hateful Colour

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

Into the world I’d like to go,
Out into the world so wide,
If only all the woods and fields
Were not green on every side!

Each green leaf I’d like to strip
From every twig and branch,
Weep acid tears to bleach dead-white
Each single blade of grass.

Green, I do despise you so!
Why stare at me where’er I go,
So proud, so bold, so full of spite
At me poor man, all flour-white?

I’d like to lie before her door
Whilst rain and storm winds blew,
And gently sing all day and night
The single word: ‘Adieu!’

Hear, a horn sounds in the wood,
She undoes her window catch,
Not to see if I’m around,
But a glimpse is what I snatch.

The green, green ribbon on your brow,
Please, do please untie it now.
Farewell, farewell, I leave this land.
In parting, let me touch your hand.

Trockne Blumen
Dry flowers

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

You, all the flowers
She ever gave
Shall lie here with me
In my grave.

Why, when you look,
Are you so sad
As if you knew
What fate I’d had?

All you flowers
So limp and pale,
What has soaked
And made you frail?

Ah, tears won’t make
Spring green the plain,
Nor love that’s died
To bloom again.

And spring will come
And winter go,
And in the meadow
Flowers will grow.

And flowers will lie
Here in my grave,
All the flowers
She ever gave.

And when she walks here
Past the mound,
When her heart says,
His love was sound,

Then all you flowers,
Come on! Come on!
May is here,
The winter’s gone!

Der Müller und der Bach
The Miller and the Brook

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

The Miller:
When a truly loving heart fails in despair,
White lilies wither everywhere,
The full moon finds dense cloud to hide
From men the tears that cannot be denied,
And angels close their eyes to weep
And sob and sing this soul to sleep.

The Stream:
Whenever love breaks free from pain,
A new star shines up in the sky,
Roses three, half red, half white,
From thorn will shoot, nor fade from sight,
And angels will discard their wings
To come to earth when sun the morning brings.

The Miller:
Ah stream, dear stream, you mean so well,
But do you know the measure of love’s pain?
Down there below is cool repose.
Ah stream, do sing your song again.

Des Baches Wiegenlied
The Brook's Lullaby

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

Weary wanderer, close your eyes,
Rest now, rest for you’ve come home.
Loyalty is here, so lie with me
Till streams are emptied by the sea.

On a cool pillow lay your head.
In a room of blue crystal make your bed.
Let everything that ebbs and flows
Come to give my boy repose.

If from the forest a horn should sound,
I’ll rush and roar till the noise is drowned.
Don’t, blue flowers, look in the stream,
For you’ll disturb the sleeper’s dream.

Now stay away you wicked girl,
Keep from the path beside the mill
Lest your shadow disturb him still.
Throw your fine shawl down to me
To cover his eyes so he won’t see.

Good night, good night till judgement day.
Sleep out your joy, sleep out your tears.
The moon rises, mist disappears.
See, heaven above is far away.