This post may not be very organized or coherent. My interpretation is in progress and therefore, this might be more like a list of ideas instead of full sentences. It definitely won't approach scholarly paper status.
Many of you readers might be familiar with this song. If you haven't sung it, you may have studied it in a vocal lit. class or heard it sung by a favorite singer. There is also at least one really good choral arrangement of this. My point here is, I'm interested in your interpretation. You don't have to agree or disagree with my ideas, but do tell me about your ideas.
I began by making a list of key words/images that I thought would be important.
Nachtigall--nightingale. It's a song bird, but what symbolism is associated with it? It shows up in a lot of songs.
dunklere Schatten--darker shadows
Tranen (yes it needs an umlaut, but I still don't know how to do it)--tears. Why is tears the longest note of the piece and why is there a crescendo through most of that word?
Morgenrot--morning-glow. Contrast to the darker shadows of night.
strahlt--shines. Again the contrast.
shimmering light of the moon vs. morning sun--silver moon--silver is a cold color. Morgenrot is morning-glow, but in that "put two words together to make a new one" way that the Germans have, it can also literally be morning red. Red is a hot color. The color of fire, warmth.
Entzucken--enchantment, one translation also uses delight
Taubenpaar--pair of doves. Doves represent purity, peace, love, innocence. My dictionary also told me that in the Old Testament doves are also used as messengers of deliverance. I like the deliverance idea. Are the doves offering deliverance from the pain? He turns away. He doesn't want deliverance, he wants her. (Yes, I'm reading this poem from the man's perspective. I usually try to approach songs from a female perspective since I know that best, obviously, but sometimes, even when it is not explicit in the text, I just feel that it is a man and I can't make the switch. I have to become him. )
heisser--hotter. Why is the tear hot? It's hot on his cheek, so it's not like his eyes are burning from crying. Tears feel hot when the skin they touch is cold. He is cold, no longer warmed by his love, his morning sun. Which leads me back to the interpretation insight I posted about before.
Although I've never really worked this song before, I've known it for years and occasionally pulled it out for a sing-through. And I've always been puzzled as to how to convey the beauty of all the amazing nature things described and still give his pain. It's like, "Oh look how pretty everything is. Life sucks." (Bet you've never read anything like that in a German poetry paper.) While listening to one of the recordings (I'll let you guess the singer--Elly Ameling, Glenda Maurice, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Janet Baker, Fritz Wunderlich, or Anne Sofie von Otter) it occurred to me that maybe I don't need to go all out in the description of the pretty stuff. I love spring, especially seeing the daffodils and brightly colored tulips, but I remember a few springs when I was really depressed. I could see the beauty and I remembered how it used to make me feel, but I felt nothing. There was none of the wonder or awe that usually comes with that beauty. I think that this is totally where this man is. He recognizes what is in front of him, but he cannot feel it. All he can feel is the loss. And I think it's not just the loss of his love, but also a little bit about losing the wonder and awe. I could be totally off base, and it may not be what that singer intended at all, but I like the idea and will work with it until something better comes along.
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