Anyone familiar with old German songs?

[Alex Franke]

(This is a bit of a shot in the dark, but so far you all have been able to answer all sorts of obscure questions, so I thought I'd give this a try.)

I'm reading through a bunch of old letters between my German grandparents while they were apart from each other. In one of them, my grandmother talks about a gramophone recording that her husband had made, and describes it like this:

We put your disc on and heard, “Dear Lotte, dear children, I’ll have to sing something for you so that you will hear my voice again,” and then we heard “Through the dark forest goes…”

SO here's the totally obscure question: Anyone know what that song might be? Anyone happen to know any experts in German songs (possibly folk or religious songs) from the early 1900's? No one in my family knows what it is.

"Through the dark forest goes" in German is "Durch den dunklen Wald geht"

[LinuxRandal]

I was going to ask my neighbor (I believe Austrian folk singers, are what his brothers are), but I think I found it.....


Through the forest, the dark, goes
Lovely spring morning,
Blowing through the forest from the sky
A Silent Love customer.

Blessed is the green tree listens
And he appears with all branches
In the beautiful spring dream
Over the full life of dance.

A flower blooms somewhere
Where's clothed by the bright dew,
The hidden trembles happy
That heaven his praises.

Night in a secret bower
When the bird hit the heart
Of the love spell,
And he sings a sweet hope.

All 'the happy fate Lenz
Not a word of heaven proclaims
But his silent, warm glance
Has ignited the bliss.

So in the Winterharm,
The soul was quelled,
If your eyes to me, still and warm,
Frühlingsmächtig penetrated.

Durch den Wald, den dunkeln, geht
Holde Frühlingsmorgenstunde,
Durch den Wald vom Himmel weht
Eine leise Liebeskunde.

Selig lauscht der grüne Baum,
Und er taucht mit allen Zweigen
In den schönen Frühlingstraum,
In den vollen Lebensreigen.

Blüht ein Blümchen irgendwo,
Wird's vom hellen Tau getränket,
Das versteckte zittert froh,
Daß der Himmel sein gedenket.

In geheimer Laubesnacht
Wird des Vogels Herz getroffen
Von der Liebe Zaubermacht,
Und er singt ein süßes Hoffen.

All' das frohe Lenzgeschick
Nicht ein Wort des Himmels kündet,
Nur sein stummer, warmer Blick
Hat die Seligkeit entzündet.

Also in den Winterharm,
Der die Seele hielt bezwungen,
Ist dein Blick mir, still und warm,
Frühlingsmächtig eingedrungen.

It looks like it is by Nikolaus Lenau and was originally a poem, set to music. (not to surprising to me, since I saw some of my grandfathers textbooks).

[gerti]

Actually from the description I would say this is an early voicemail eg custom personal recording. They were not uncommon.

[crokett]

Actually from the description I would say this is an early voicemail eg custom personal recording. They were not uncommon.

Right. I think he made the recording and sang the song on the recording.

[Alex Franke]

I was going to ask my neighbor (I believe Austrian folk singers, are what his brothers are), but I think I found it.....

WHAT the...?!?!?

I'm stunned. You're awesome -- I'm going to start calling you Googlemeister.

It looks like I relied too much on the word order by using quotation marks in my searches. Thanks so much! I'm off to try to find a recording!

I'm convinced, by the way, that there is absolutely NOTHING the members of this forum don't know or can't figure out.

[Alex Franke]

Actually from the description I would say this is an early voicemail eg custom personal recording. They were not uncommon.

Yes, that's what it was. He made the recording in 1930 a side room at the Paramount Theater in New York City for 35 cents.

Do you happen to know what type of machine it might have been?

[herb fellows]

And I thought you'd need an 'old German' to decipher this! Go figure!

[drillman88]

I found the following on amazon that has the song listed but because I am on the clock I couldnt open it. I think your song is #10. I hope it works.

http://www.amazon.de/Lieder-Duette-D.../dp/B0000063BH

I would think the recording equiupment would look something like this,

http://reel2reeltexas.com/cat38BARec.jpg

but I could be wrong. It woud seem to be a gramophone type setup since discs were used.

[LinuxRandal]

I got to see the neighbor today. He is either 65 or 66 (don't know his birthday). His brother (thought he had more then one in it) has retired but was in a folk group. (still in Austria) but he personally didn't recognize the song.

[dkerfoot]

I know a little German. Here he is:

(from the movie "Top Secret!"

[Alex Franke]

I found the following on amazon that has the song listed but because I am on the clock I couldnt open it. I think your song is #10. I hope it works.

http://www.amazon.de/Lieder-Duette-D.../dp/B0000063BH

I would think the recording equiupment would look something like this,

http://reel2reeltexas.com/cat38BARec.jpg

but I could be wrong. It woud seem to be a gramophone type setup since discs were used.

Great links! Thanks so much for your help on this!!