Analyse, Then Solve Them & Herzliebchen [Edited]

 

And now we have a new problem, when she saw

the dolls I collected, my son’s friend said that she

has never had a doll in her life and that is the most

heart-breaking comment I ever heard, really no doll 

at all, ever; and he has to buy her one - would she

like a teddy, kind people asked, but she replied No  

 

She wants a doll – I’m ashamed because my dad

saw to it that my twin sis and I had dolls when we

were small, I gathered them in a group for a tea-

party, two big dolls with curly hair, one dark, the

other blonde, and two boys, Pieter and Johan I

called them; I did not try to be their mother, no

 

Taking care of them, but I put them up to serious

discussions sitting in a circle and listening to each

other; my son’s friend has a highly intelligent mom

who lives for her students and never had time for

her own child – a pattern repeating itself when

meeting exceptional kids and I’m also guilty, no

 

Coddling my kids, it did not feel right – teaching

them and working on enlarging the imagination

for creative activity: when my son met his friend

a gifted student, she was living alone and never

learnt to cook, it is his privilege to take care of her

since he excels at culinary skills in imitation of his

 

Dad, my son sees a kindred spirit in her as she 

reminds him of me, I never read cook books while

Nici ascribes her mastery of cookery to him also –

now we must start hunting for a special doll to unlock

the door to the heart of my son’s friend – every highly

intelligent friend he brings home has problems

 

And I love to analyse, then solve them!

-------------------------------------------

“My Nooientjie-lief in die Moerbeiboom”

Herzliebchen mein unterm Rebendach

Herzliebchen mein “O Hartlief van my”

 

Rebendach = vine-covered roof - Wingerd-bedekte dak

von Sehnsuchtsschmerz durchglüht

“met reikhalsende smart en verlange deurdrenk”

suffused with the pain of longing [no resonance here]

 

O hör mein kleines Lied – “luister as ek my serenade vir jou sing”

Ich bitte, Schätzchen, o hör mein kleines Lied – “O my skat, luister

as ek my serenade vir jou sing”

Mein Liedchen ist jetzt aus – “dit is die einde van my serenade”

Herzliebchen mein unterm Rebendach
o hör mein kleines Lied!
des trauten Stimme, sie ruft dich wach
von Sehnsuchtsschmerz durchglüht.
O zeig dein Köpfchen, ich harre dein
ich bitte, Schätzchen, o sag nicht nein!
Herzliebchen mein unterm Rebendach
o hör mein kleines Lied!

Herzliebchen mein unterm Rebendach
o komm herab zu mir!
Du denkst wohl nicht an den heutigen Tag
doch ich, ich gratulier‘!
Was sagst du zu meiner Liebe, wie?
Hier steh‘ ich singend um sechs Uhr früh.
Herzliebchen mein unterm Rebendach
o komm herab zu mir!

Herzliebchen mein unterm Rebendach
mein Liedchen ist jetzt aus,
und bist, mein Schätzchen, du noch nicht wach
so gehn wir still nach Haus.
Das Ständchen hätte dich sehr gefreut
hast du’s verschlafen, so thut’s mir leid.
Herzliebchen mein unterm Rebendach
mein Liedchen ist jetzt aus.

Text: Emil Fohl und Heinrich Wilken in der Posse „Auf eigenen Füßen“ , 1869
Musik: August Conradi , 1869 (1821—1873)

in: Allgemeines Deutsches Kommersbuch — Deutsch-Österreichisches Studentenliederbuch (1888) — Liederbuch Postverband (1898) — Großes Volks-Liederbuch (ca. 1900) — Deutsches Lautenlied (1914) —