Lieder Line by Line

The book prints the words of German poems set to music by Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Wagner, Brahms, Wolf, Mahler, and Richard Strauss. In between each line of German text are printed word-for-word literal English translations, and a clear prose translation is also provided for each poem.

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German song in the nineteenth century offers some of the greatest pleasures available to the singer, pianist, and listener. The great German poets - Goethe, Schiller, Rückert, Eichendorff, Heine, Mörike, Hesse, and many lesser figures - inspired such perennial masterpieces as Schubert's song cycles Die Schöne Müllerin and Winterreise, Schumann's Dichterliebe, and Mahler's Die Kindertotenlieder. This book provides the German texts of the most frequently studied and performed songs, and gives literal, word-for-word translations under each line, plus clear English prose versions of each poem. Neither is a singing version, but each contributes to the understanding and appreciation of the song. The composers represented are Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Wagner, Brahms, Wolf, Mahler, and Richard Strauss. This new edition includes numerous corrections and improvements to the translations.