Elfenlied

Elfenlied (German /ˈɛlfənˌliːt/ "fairy song") is the coventional title of a 1780 poem by Goethe, and of a later (c. 1830) poem by Eduard Mörike (and of their various respective adaptations to music).

Goethe's poem was written in 1780, in a letter sent to Charlotte von Stein, without a title, but introduced by Die Elfen sangen "the elves/fairies sang"; the title Elfenlied (and variants) were only set in editions of Goethe's collected poems (titled "A Midnight Fairy Song" by Thomas 1859). Goethe's poem is Romantic, invoking the image of a fairy-dance under the impression of a moonlit night. It was set to music many times, e.g. as "Elfenliedchen" by Julius Kniese (1900), as "Elfensang" by Erich J. Wolff (1907) and as "Elfenlied" by Alexander Zemlinsky (1934).

Mörike's poem was written at some point between 1826 and early 1828 (first published in 1832). It is humorous, its premise being a pun on (or ), the German word both for "elf" or "fairy" and "eleven": It describes an Elfe (a fairy) awakened one hour early for the fairy-dance, at eleven o'clock instead of at midnight, due to mistaking the watchman's calling out of the eleventh hour for the calling of the "Elves" to the fairy-dance. Still half-asleep, the Elf mistakes glow-worms sitting on a stone wall for the lit halls of the fairy-hall and, trying to look in, bashes his head against the stone. The poem was set to music by Hugo Wolf in 1888 (the German title of this work is also rendered "Elfin dream" or "The elfin's dream" in English-language music catalogues).

Hugo Wolf also composed a separate choral piece called Elfenlied, in this case an adaptation from words in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (the "fairy song" from act 2, scene 5, "Bunte Schlangen, zweigezüngt"/ "You spotted Snakes with double tongue").

English translation by W.G. Thomas (1859)

Um Mitternacht, wenn die Menschen erst schlafen,
Dann scheinet uns der Mond,
Dann leuchtet uns der Stern;
Wir wandeln und singen
Und tanzen erst gern.

Um Mitternacht, wenn die Menschen erst schlafen,
Auf Wiesen, an den Erlen
Wir suchen unsern Raum
Und wandeln und singen
Und tanzen einen Traum.

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