Elisabeth: Die Legende einer Heiligen

[digne]

I see there's not a board for this musical, and while it is not nearly as good as Kunze and Levay's Elisabeth, it's a wonderful little show. The title translations "Elisabeth: The Legend of a Saint." It is about St. Elisabeth of Thüringen.

I've translated a couple of the songs (with mixed success). My German is intermediate, but at times my vocabulary outstrips my knowledge of the grammar. So there may be errors here, if you find any, let me know. I did at times change words to try and make the translation more colloquial in English.

Here is the song with a translation below:



Du rettest die Welt für mich
(You Save the World for Me)

As long as I can remember I was alone
I'm too young to know what it means to be lonely,
to be lonely and vulnerable
And so I stumble through difficult times
Nothing in the world is as certain as uncertainty
I'm afraid to trust my happiness
Sometimes I feel like a speck of dust between the stars
Sometimes I am seized with the cold like a mighty power
But then you come and open your heart and warm me
You accompany me to the end of each hopeless night

And you come and save the world for me
You alone have heard my voice
What would my life be without you?
Because of you, this world is worth your love
You save the world for me

You believe in the force that determines your destiny
You rest on the flow of life as a hawk in the wind
Because confidence drives you
Simply seeing you makes me strong
And piece by piece the colors are put back into the day
I can feel how good you are to me
And I feel safely held at your side
I can rest because I know you watch over me
And I let myself fall into your vastness
Into your soft heart every load sinks

And you come and save the world for me
You alone have heard my voice
What would my life be without you?
Because of you, this world is worth your love
You save the world for me

Only you alone
Come and save me
Save the world for me

And you come and save the world for me
You alone have heard my voice
What would my life be without you?
Because of you, this world is worth your love

[Havanah]

I created a board and moved the thread here ^^

I must admit that I had not heard of this musical at all (it's not a surprise - I tend to live in a bubble)

I loved the style of that song though. At the start I thought it had some really folk-y tones which fit a historic piece so well. I'm going to tire out google (and youtube when I get home ^^ )

I know the feeling of having more vocab than grammar. Most of all at two in the morning ("I WILL finish this part!") when suddenly I have no idea if anything is in past present or future or who's talking about what Joking aside (although that's actually what happens regularly to me XD ), I loved the translation too! It worked in not being a fully literal translation that made it read well separate from the piece without going to far away!

[digne]

I would call this show a good but not great musical. There is a double CD of it but really there isn't enough great music in the show to make it worth getting. So the highlight album is perfect because it covers just about all the really good songs. That's the album I bought. The only thing it is missing is the finale (which you can find on YouTube).

My favorite songs, other than "Du rettest die Welt für mich" are "Höfisch" the "Prolog," "Liebe ist alles" and "Hol mich Heim."

But there is almost an entire lack of material on the web about the show in English, not even a synopsis -- although there is information about the historical St. Elisabeth. So I've been translating some of the songs just so I can figure out what is going on. There is a German synopsis.

I have a few other songs translated. My version of "Hol mich Heim" is a real mess because I can hardly tell what the combination of words really means -- that darn grammar thing again!

Oh, and the show taught me a new word in English: Landgrave (Landgraf in German)

[Havanah]

The amount of English words I learn through German is amazing.

If you want to pm me the bits you aren't sure about in Hol mich Heim then I can see if I can get them any better - highly unlikely but a bit of teamwork never hurt!

I'll probably have a listen on youtube before buying. Try before you buy attitude there!

[digne]

Here is "Hol mich Heim" It is by far the most religious song in the show, if you don't count Conrad's hellfire sermons. =

However translating songs can be a challenge because of all the poetic language used. And this song was really a challenge. I'm trying to capture what the song really means rather than a totally literal translation of the words. The first stanza I really had to stretch quite a bit in translation to try to give it the right emotional flavor in English that gets lost in direct translation. I'm still not sure I got it right and later the song refers to the "Heimat" (homeland). I've seen that word used a few places in lyrics and I'm wondering if it has more poetic significance. It seems to mean in German a person's "true home."



Hol mich Heim
(Take Me Home)
sung by Sabrina Weckerlin

I don't fit in
A spell casts
An invisible boundary
Which I cannot break through.
You hear what I say
Yet I remain misunderstood.
And the doors close
Although they were never truly open

I don't belong here
So where do I belong?
I always feel unimportant.
Then I want to disappear
And be invisible.
So I wait until the night takes me
Into its dreams.
There I can escape.

Then I scurry quietly
From my room
Into the night.
In the dark air there is a promise
That it has made me a star in the heavens.
Then I run in the valley
Far from the city
In the woods,
Over fields and meadows.
I run and run
Without once looking back.
And then I hear a voice
It calls me by name.
It is strange but familiar.
Who are you, do you know me?
Are you a quiet call from the homeland?
Then tell me where I belong?
Show me the way, take me away from here
To where I can be home.

Take me home
-- No one hears, no one comes
-- There is no one far and wide.
Take me home
-- Only a desperate cry
-- Dies away in isolation.
Take me home
-- And so the cry remains
-- An abandoned plead.
-- How can a homeless child go home?

Through the fog of memory
Someone comes to mind.
Unreal, blurred
Father, is that you?
Where were you all these years?
Have you never missed me?
I was so afraid before
That you forgot me sometimes.
Now I know that you are truly near.
All my life I've counted the days
But now you are really there Father.
Have you been absent all these years.
The comfort of your voice,
The protection of your hands,
Never again go away, I'll hold you tight.
Stay with me. I'll not let you go so
That you may leave me someday

Take me home
-- No one hears, no one comes
-- There is no one far and wide.
Take me home
-- Only a desperate cry
-- Dies away in isolation.
Take me home
-- And so the cry remains
-- An abandoned plead.
-- How can a homeless child go home?

Where should I go away from your spirit?
And where should I flee from your face?
Lead me to heaven and you are there.
Take me on the wings of the morning dawn
And stay at the edge of the furthest sea.
There also your hand leads me
And your right hand holds me.

Can I rely on you?
Will you give me refuge and guide my fate?
If I fall will you catch me?
God, do you have me in your slight?
Then take me home,
Take me home,
Take me home.

(Note: The bridge of the song is part of Psalms 139)