Classical music lovers discussion

Can anyone suggest an English translation for 'lauter Liebe'?

One of my favorite Lieder is Brahms' 'Der Tag, das ist die kühle Nacht.'

However, I've never found an absolutely convincing English translation for the most important word. There are, I think, four alternatives.

Here's the original. The poem is by Heine.

Der Tod das ist die kühle Nacht,
Das Leben ist der schwüle Tag.
Es dunkelt schon, mich schläfert,
Der Tag hat mich müd gemacht.

Über mein Bett erhebt sich ein Baum,
Drin singt die junge Nachtigall;
Sie singt von lauter Liebe,
Ich hör es sogar im Traum.

Here's a pretty good English translation:

Death is the cool night,
Life is the humid day,
It's getting dark, I'm sleepy,
The day has made me tired.

A tree rises over my bed,
The young nightingale sings in it.
It's singing of nothing but love,
I hear it even in my dream.

My question is this: should 'lauter Liebe', be best translated as:

nothing but love
only love
sheer love
pure love

Heine wrote the poem around 1825. I think this may need to be taken into account when deciding upon a translation.

Can anyone suggest their own preference?

hmm my german is not very good (ie, im terrible) but doesnt lauter mean louder?

The trouble with 'laut' is that it can have several meanings, depending on context. 'Loud' is just one. I'm searching for the best meaning of 'lauter Liebe', from the poem, from Heine, and from 1825.

hmm the feeling i have with lauter love is a love so obvious it cannot be repressed or hidden in any way. is that the idea you want to translate to english?

the letter of that piece is so beautiful, i think ill write it down and put it in my bedroom

I'm glad you like it, Stray. In a day or two I'll have this song, sung by Elena Gerhardt, up on my blog, http://jplathrop.net. It's a very old recording, but the best I've ever heard. If you like Lieder, you may like this.

Once you hear it, you may have a firmer idea of what Brahms, who couldn't have written the song much more than 25 years after Heine wrote it, thought 'lauter Liebe' meant. I look forward to your impression!

okay thanks! I dont think ive ever heard any lieder before. I prefer instrumental music

It's up at http://jplathrop.net, along with a more recent rendition by Graciela Alperyn.

just commented ^^ I really like the gerhardt rendition.

and what does lauter liebe means to you? Ive already told what it means to e, but you havent

I think the singer is singing of something she's lost, something she had at sometime in the past.

I've just found something that may be a clue: Bach's cantata, 'Meine Seel erhebt den Herren' (My soul magnifies the Lord). There's a line: 'Aus lauter Liebe zu erlösen', which means, 'Is delivered out of pure love'.

But . . . Bach wrote the music to that a hundred years before Heine, and the German text could have been two hundred years old then.

I'm still searching . . . .

Hey.
I would say:

...sings only of love...

although the feeling i get is: she sings because she has so much love inside. if you can put that concisely.. ? :)

Cheers!

Oh, and btw - the name of the song is "Der Tod, das ist die kühle Nacht" - that is Death is the cool night, not day (Tag)...
all the best!