Hans Pfitzner - "An die Mark" - Fischer-Dieskau

"An die Mark" is the most deeply felt of Hans Pfitzner's mature song settings. The poet, Ilse von Stach-Lerner, is a minor one, not unusual with Pfitzner. This song also exists in a version for voice and piano, but I prefer this version for the beauty of Pfitzner's orchestration.

The title "An die Mark" (Ode to the March), refers to the principality of Brandenburg, also known as the March of Brandenburg (Mark Brandenburg) which played a pivotal role in the history of Germany.The territory is known as a Mark or march because it was a border county of the Holy Roman Empire.

An die Mark

Bereifte Kiefern, atemlose Seen,
Die träumen einem dunklen Auge gleich
In ew'ger Sehnsucht von des Frühlings Reich;
Und drüber hin ein schwarzer Zug von Kräh'n.

Viel junges Leben will die Sonne sehn.
Da sitzt die Schwermut schon am Waldesrand
Und schreibt geheime Zeichen in den Sand,
Kein Frühlingssturm wird ihre Schrift verweh'n.

Und eines Tages kommt der junge Mai;
Und dennoch - unter glückverlor'nen Küßen
Lebt ein Bewußtsein, daß wir sterben müssen,
Daß alles nur ein Traum und schmerzlich sei.

Dies Land, da Wunsch und Hoffnung selig sind,
Und doch in ihrem rätselvollen Wesen
Von stiller Trauer niemals zu erlösen,
Dies Land ist meine Heimat und ich bin sein Kind.

Ilse von Stach-Lerner (1879-1941)

Ode to the March

Frost-covered pines, breathless lakes:
they dream like dark eyes
in eternal longing for spring's kingdom;
and up above, a dark procession of crows.

Many young lives does the sun see.
Melancholy sits already at the edge of the forest
and writes mysterious signs in the sand;
no spring storm will erase its work.

And one day comes the youthful May;
and yet - even during the joyous abandon of kisses,
there lives the awareness that we must die -
that all is but a dream, full of pain.

This land, where desire and hope are blessed,
and yet, in their riddle-like way,
are not to be rescued entirely from quiet sorrow -
this land is my home and I am its child.

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone)
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Wolfgang Sawallisch conductor