Mozart: Bardengesang auf Gibraltar: O Calpe!

composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1782 to celebrate the Great Siege of Gibraltar in which the British garrison decisively defeated the Spanish & French forces!
Written before the siege had ended but managed to capture the drama of what the rest of Europe thought of the siege..
Mozart had an admirable view of the British, in fact 2 of his favourite students were English..

O Calpe! To you it is thundering at the foot of,
However, there looks your millennial summit
Quietly in worlds around.
See! There wölket to itself up,
About the western waves,
Wölket to itself broader and anticipating on.
It flutters, o Calpe! Segelgewölk!
Wing of the help!
How admirably flow the flag of Britain,
Of your faithful Verheißerin!
Calpe! She flows! But the night sinks!

She covers with her blackest ones,
To Unholdsten raven wings mountains,
Surfaces, sea and bay and cliffs,
Where the pale death of the skipper,
Kiel splitting, sits.
Hinan!

From thousand pharynxes there howl storms.
The floods rise to the clouds,
Burst overthrowing about rock.
Already float from geborst'nen ships
Of the enemies remains on the waves.
Hinan! Hinan!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Gibraltar
• Spanish
• french
• defeats
• british
• victory
• perfidious
• Albion
• overseas
• territory
• truenco
• albertohp
• American
• war
• of
• independence
• revolutionary

[LordGeorgeRodney]

10 Spaniards disliked this

 : )

[ThePalaeontologist]

Heartwarming...Mozart was backing Britain?! Amazing stuff. To be fair, the Great Siege of Gibraltar is outstanding. Take your Siege of Pensacola Spain, and shove it!

[dmax631]

The Great Siege of Gibraltar should rank among the most legendary victories of the British army

[expertstrategy]

I once read from a book, that after the battle of Vitoria, Wellington and his army won 'the loot of a kingdom' capturing the entire payment of the French army, worth millions of British pounds, Arthur even earned his British Field Marshal Baton after he sent the baton of Marshal Jourdon. That is what I call a victory.

[Fjesilva]

Other works by Mozart: Figaro (1786): In Spain. Don Giovanni (1787): In Spain. Etführung Die aus dem Serail (1782): Spanish empire. Arriaga composers: Mozart Spanish nineteenth century. Beethoven, called the Spanish in Vienna, grandfather of the Netherlands, where the Spanish were one hundred and forty years. Mozart tribute to Martin y Soler, winner in Vienna in 1786, although not as good as Mozart.

[Fjesilva]

The song was commissioned by a Hungarian lady who gave him the letter. Mozart only said: "The ode is beautiful, high as you want, but too bombastic for my delicate ears."

[noncervantes]

Thanks for posting!

Regarding the lyrics, I hate to tell you that it's not a good idea to use online translators - your "translation" is sheer rubbish. You may want to post the German original with a couple of explanations or get a decent human translation.

Regards.

[LordGeorgeRodney]

@chigaloo2

indeed

Beethoven would right some tunes about British victories against the French

Wellington's Victory

British Light Dragoons

great stuff!