A German poem based on a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) , from Two Gentlemen of Verona (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Gentlemen_of_Verona), Act IV, Scene 2.
It’s also a lied set to this text by Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) , “An Silvia“, op. 106 no. 4, D. 891 (1826). Sung by:
Fritz Wunderlich (tenor) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14AT7-79oJk&feature=related
Lucia Popp (soprano) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX8BuKKpVeY&feature=fvw
Janet Baker (mezzo-soprano) – In English http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8vHk038_VY&feature=related
| Was ist Silvia, saget an, Daß sie die weite Flur preist? Schön und zart seh ich sie nahn, Auf Himmelsgunst und Spur weist, Daß ihr alles untertan. |
| Ist sie schön und gut dazu? Reiz labt wie milde Kindheit; Ihrem Aug’ eilt Amor zu, Dort heilt er seine Blindheit Und verweilt in süßer Ruh. |
| Darum Silvia, tön, o Sang, Der holden Silvia Ehren; Jeden Reiz besiegt sie lang, Den Erde kann gewähren: Kränze ihr und Saitenklang! |
| Original English text:Who is Silvia? What is she, That all our swains commend her? Holy, fair, and wise is she; The heaven such grace did lend her, That she might admirèd be. |
| Is she kind as she is fair? For beauty lives with kindness. Love doth to her eyes repair, To help him of his blindness, And, being help’d, inhabits there. |
| Then to Silvia let us sing, That Silvia is excelling; She excels each mortal thing Upon the dull earth dwelling: To her let us garlands bring. |