Gustav Mahler - "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" (Rückert) - Fischer-Dieskau

During the summers of 1901 and 1902, Gustav Mahler set to music five poems by the German Romantic poet Friedrich Rückert. The third of these, "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen", portrays a world-weary artist who exists in our everyday world, but who actually lives his life in another, more ethereal plane reserved for great artists. Mahler, much maligned as composer during his lifetime, identified strongly with the poem, saying that it expressed his very self. In fact, he felt so strongly about this song that he reused much of the music in the famous Adagietto of his Fifth Symphony, which he composed during the summer of 1902.

The orchestral song begins with a mournful melody played by solo English horn. This melody is then restated and extended by the singer during the first stanza, which speaks of the artists isolation in a world that already thinks him dead. The tempo increases slightly for the second stanza, during which the artist reflects that he does not really care what the world thinks. The third stanza is remarkably peaceful as the artist describes the other world in which he resides: I live alone in my heaven, in my love, in my song. The gentle consonant-dissonant alternation of the violins and English horn in the coda seems to portray the artist staring beyond the horizon into his musical paradise.

Many consider "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen", as Mahlers greatest song, one of his most profound and moving works and was of immense personal significance for Mahler.


Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen

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!

Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866)



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 that 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!

Translation by Emily Ezust


Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Karl Böhm cond.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• classical
• vocal
• lieder
• Gustav
• Mahler
• Friedrich
• Rückert
• Fischer-Dieskau
• Karl
• Böhm

[DagAndersEriks1]

I just keep coming back to this song in this version night after night. Such marvelous deep comfort. Thank you for posting, it makes a difference

[FiDiTanzer528]

@DagAndersEriks1

:))

[Caparsso]

WHAT WOULD LIFE BE WITHOUT A LITTLE MAHLER???

[VoiceClassical]

Thanks for the upload...

[lewars1912]

Lovely.

[CarlaVanLanduyt]

@DagAndersEriks1 : me too ! It is of such an immense beauty and touches the heart, the soul, it touches me in such a way I cannot describe what it does to me, every time, again and again.

[baz5158]

sublime

[josestevam]

A sublime interpretation! This was recorded on 18th June,1963. That is the day and month of my birthday! A good coincidence!

[Just1Humanoid]

True piece of art, one of the most touching melodies ever created.