Mahler's "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen"

Reveries / Music to Reflect on

Jessye Norman sings "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" (O garish world, long since thou hast lost me ) - from Rückert Lieder

Rückert-Lieder (Songs after Rückert) is a collection of five Lieder for voice and orchestra or piano by composer Gustav Mahler, based on poems written by Friedrich Rückert. The songs were first published in Sieben Lieder aus letzter Zeit (Seven Songs of Latter Days). 

This is recorded at Avery Fisher Hall with Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic. Performed at the opening of the 1989-90 season. (Note: In Wikipedia, Ich bin der Welt adhanden gekommen is the third song and not the fifth, as mentioned in the caption.)

Lyrics:
(Source: Musixmatch)

Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen,
Mit der ich sonst viele Zeit verdorben,
Sie hat so lange nichts von mir vernommen,
Sie mag wohl glauben, ich sei gestorben!

Es ist mir auch gar nichts daran gelegen,
Ob sie mich für gestorben hält,
Ich kann auch gar nichts sagen dagegen,
Denn wirklich bin ich gestorben der Welt.

Ich bin gestorben dem Weltgetümmel,
Und ruh' in einem stillen Gebiet!
Ich leb' allein in meinem Himmel,
In meinem Lieben, in meinem Lied!

(bit more English translation) 

I am lost to the world,  
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen,

With which I used to waste a lot of time,  
Mit der ich sonst viele Zeit verdorben,

It hasn't heard from me for so long  
Sie hat so lange nichts von mir vernommen,

It may think that I died! 
Sie mag wohl glauben, ich sei gestorben!

I don't care at all  
Es ist mir auch gar nichts daran gelegen,

Whether I'm thought to be dead  
Ob sie mich für gestorben hält,

I also can't say anything against  
Ich kann auch gar nichts sagen dagegen,

Because I really died in the world. 
Denn wirklich bin ich gestorben der Welt.

I died in the middle of the world,  
Ich bin gestorben dem Weltgetümmel,

And rest in a quiet area!  
Und ruh' in einem stillen Gebiet!

I live alone in my sky  
Ich leb' allein in meinem Himmel,

In my love, in my song! 
In meinem Lieben, in meinem Lied!

***

I am lost to the world  
with which I used to waste so much time,
It has heard nothing from me for so long
that it may very well believe I am dead!

It is of no consequence to me whether it thinks me dead;
I cannot deny it,
for I really am dead to the world. 

I am dead to the world's tumult,
And I rest in a quiet realm!
I live alone in my heaven,  
In my love and in my song!

Video Credit:

Jessye Norman "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" Ruckert Lieder 5/5.  Uploaded by Gr8hopio. Accessed January 17, 2020.

Resource:

Rückert-Lieder. Wikipedia. Accessed January 17, 2020. 


(c) January 17, 2020. Leaves from my Musings. Tel. All rights reserved. 

New Year 2020 Reflections

Reflections  / Musings

Passing end-of-year reflections while looking forward to a new year

I respect the wonderful memories of my past, but most especially at this point in time of my life,  I refuse to cling to it, for in doing so I make myself unavailable to the present.  

Listening:  

Joni Mitchell - Both Sides, Now [Original Studio Version, 1969].  Accessed January 2, 2020.
Mary Hopkin - Those Were The Days - 1968. Accessed January 2, 2020. 


A new year is upon us once again. This time it's 2020. New decade too. New beginning. A chance to make things right.

Was it a year ago, and other years before that we fought our to-dos including over-spending and gluttony - and miserably failed? Oh, those moments' motivated resolutions to be better... only to break them in a matter of time, some less than a day or two.

Through the festive season I started to spend time reflecting on the past year, and the lessons it may teach me. This year, I've learned few but significant things from those experiences and messages, thanks in part, to Facebook.  Events and interactions certainly have been suitable pointers. Enormous waste of time and energies, dealing with the wrong people and group/s, not to mention stressors. Even common interests don't warrant true friendships.   

Lesson?  To not take anything for granted.

Know thyself and really know what you want, where your sense of comfort lies.

If we can truly reflect on our past year, on the things we treasure and the values we hold, do something about them, we are moving towards a better, fulfilling new year.  N'est ce pas?


(c) January 2020. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

Tracks for Thoughts and Insights

Quotable Quote:

"When you get near people who are pursuing their heart's desire,

you can see the intensity in their face. 

Life is too short to live without that kind of focus."  

~ Barbara Sher, Author,

'I Could Do Anything
If I Only Knew What It was' ~

*  Most people are as happy as they make up their minds to be. It is not what happens to us in life that determines our happiness, so much as, the way we react to what happens. Happiness is a decision, not an event. 

Being creative

Ah, creativity! 

Let's look around our home. 

Notice some items just taking up space?
We can think of new uses for them.

Unlike driving, we can make the rules in life ... to avoid following other people's complicated plans unless we thoroughly understand and agree or prefer their logic.
Let's devise your own plan, whenever possible. 

* The spice of life is in doing new things, in forging something from our substance. 

"It is vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity;

they must have action and they will make it if they cannot find it." 

~Charlotte Bronte, Author~

"The price we pay for the complexity of life is too high. When you think of all the effort you have to put in - telephonic, technological and relational - and to alter even the slightest bit of behavior in this strange world we call social life, you are left pining for the straightforwardness of primitive peoples and their physical work."  ~ Jean Baudrillard,  French Sociologist, Philosopher and Cultural Theorist. ~  

Tips & Ideas in keeping life simple:

1. Learning to enjoy what's in front of us.

2. Creating time for what we care about.

3. Increasing stress tolerance.

Note: 'Tracks for thoughts & insights' were originally published in my website "Web Sparklers" at Netscape, December 2000. I picked up some insights to include for this post. / Tel. 

(c) 2000. Tel.  Leaves from my musings. All rights reserved.