Franz Schubert
Der Wegweiser
der zwanzigste aus Winterreise, Op. 89 / D. 911 (komponiert 1827)
Gedichte von Wilhelm Müller
Translations by Austin Heinz
On the left, you can listen to two different versions:
an orchestral setting, and a choral transcription!
Deutsch
1 Was vermeid’ ich denn die Wege
2 Wo die anderen Wandrer geh'n,
3 Suche mir versteckte Stege
4 Durch verschneite Felsenhöhn?
5 Habe ja doch nichts begangen,
6 Dass ich Menschen sollte scheu'n –
7 Welch ein törichtes Verlangen
8 Treibt mich in die Wüstenei'n?
9 Weiser stehen auf den Strassen,
10 Weisen auf die Städte zu,
11 Und ich wandre sonder Massen,
12 Ohne Ruh’, und suche Ruh’.
13 Einen Weiser seh’ ich stehen
14 Unverrückt vor meinem Blick;
15 Eine Strasse muss ich gehen,
16 Die noch Keiner ging zurück.
Literal English
1 Why then do I avoid the paths
2 where the other wanderers go,
3 Searching for hidden walkways
4 through snowy crags?
5 Yet I have committed nothing,
6 that I should shy away from humankind –
7 What foolish yearning
8 drives me into the wilderness?
9 Signs stand on the roads,
10 pointing to the towns,
11 and I wander without measure,
12 without rest, and searching for rest.
13 I see a signpost standing
14 unmoved before my gaze.
15 I have to go down a road
16 from which no one else has yet returned.
Artistic English
1 All these often-traveled pathways
2 why must I avoid them so?
3 Always chasing hidden walkways,
4 through the mountain-peaks of snow?
5 Yet I know I am not guilty,
6 that I need not hide away –
7 Still a yearning feeling drives me
8 and the wilderness awaits.
9 Signposts on the roads are staring,
10 pointing to each lonely town,
11 but I always change my bearing,
12 travel on ‘til I break down.
13 One more signpost is before me,
14 unaffected by my scorn;
15 Looking down this path I see
16 that I never will return.