Schubert: Ständchen, D 889

Introduction

"Ständchen", D 889, (known in English by its first line "Hark, hark, the lark" or "Serenade") is a lied for solo voice and piano by Franz Schubert, composed in July 1826 in Währing, then a village north-west of the walls of Vienna, now a suburb. The lied is a setting of the 'Song' in Act II, Scene 3 of Shakespeare's Cymbeline. Schubert died aged only 31 in 1828, and the song was first published posthumously by Anton Diabelli in 1830. The song in its original form is relatively short, and two further verses by Friedrich Reil were added to Diabelli's second edition of 1832.

Although the German translation which Schubert used has been attributed to August Schlegel (apparently on the basis of various editions of Cymbeline bearing his name published in Vienna in 1825 and 1826),^[2] the text is not exactly the same as the one which Schubert set: and this particular adaptation of Shakespeare had already been published as early as 1810 as the work of Abraham Voß (de), and again — under the joint names of A. W. Schlegel and J. J. Eschenburg — in a collected Shakespeare edition of 1811.

This 1810 version by Abraham Voß, and various other adaptations of Cymbeline, bear remarkable similarities to an earlier translation of Cymbeline by Eschenburg, first published in 1777.

Works by other composers appearing in 1826 included Hector Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique; Mendelssohn's incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream; and Weber's opera Oberon had its first performance at the Covent Garden, London.

Lyrics

Horch, horch, die Lerch’ im Ätherblau!
Und Phöbus, neu erweckt,
Tränkt seine Rosse mit dem Tau,
Der Blumenkelche deckt.
Der Ringelblume Knospe schleusst
Die goldnen Äuglein auf;
Mit allem, was da reizend ist,
Du süsse Maid, steh auf!

Wenn schon die liebe ganze Nacht
Der Sterne lichtes Heer
Hoch über dir im Wechsel wacht,
So hoffen sie noch mehr,
Dass auch dein Augenstern sie grüsst.
Erwach! Sie warten drauf,
Weil du doch gar so reizend bist;
Du süsse Maid, steh auf!

Und wenn dich alles das nicht weckt,
So werde durch den Ton
Der Minne zärtlich aufgeneckt!
O dann erwachst du schon!
Wie oft sie dich ans Fenster trieb,
Das weiss sie, drum steh auf,
Und habe deinen Sänger lieb,
Du süsse Maid, steh auf!