Werner Ulrich's Home Page: Picture of the Month
Now "Ulrich's Bimonthly"
December 2005
Softly falls the snow – Leise rieselt der Schnee… Thus begins a traditional Austrian Christmas carol. How beautifully its first two verses capture the magic of this season:
«
Leise rieselt der Schnee,
still und starr liegt der
See,
weihnachtlich glänzet der Wald:
Freue dich, Christkind kommt
bald!
In den Herzen wirds warm,
still schweigt Kummer und
Harm,
Sorge des Lebens verhallt:
Freue dich, Christkind kommt bald! »
Eduard Ebel, 1839-1905
A number of English translation are available, but none seems to follow the lyrics and the melody of the original as closely as one might wish. I have therefore tried my hands at a new translation, in an attempt to make it easy for those who like to sing this Christmas carol to follow the song's melody yet staying close to the meaning of the German lyrics:
Snow falls softly tonight,
Nature's
quiet and bright,
In the forest a wonderful light,
Christ
child is coming
tonight!
People's
hearts are so warm,
Gone's all sorrow and harm,
All the worries feel suddenly light,
Christ
child is coming tonight!
Transl. W. Ulrich, 2010
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For a hyperlinked overview of all issues
of "Ulrich's Bimonthly" and the previous "Picture of the
Month" series,
see the site map
Softly falling snow: a perfect symbol for the one challenge that is left to us as the old year is ending: "letting go." We can't keep it, we can't improve it any more. But we can still attempt a soft landing, as it were.
So let it go in peace!
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December 2005 |
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Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 |
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December, 2005 |
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Mountain Christmas: Adelboden, Bernese Oberland |
„Snow falls softly tonight …”
(Eduard Ebel, 1839-1905)
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Personal notes:
Write
down your thoughts before
you forget them! |
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Last
updated 19 May 2010 (layout and new transl. of the
song's lyrics; first published 1 Dec 2005)
http://wulrich.com/picture_december2005.html