"Im wunderschönen Monat Mai." Heinrich Heines Buch der Lieder. And a little tribute to singer Chrístine Schäfer.

The Avid Amazon wishes all her kind readers a happy 1st of May! Here in Germany, near Cologne, the weather is gorgeous! As for me, I spent the day sitting in front of my pc, playing around with blogger and twitter and poring over fine new articles to prevent you from doing useful things:-). Have a good time, guys.

Listen to German soprano Christine Schäfer performing "Im wunderschönen Monat May"; lyrics: Heinrich Heine (from Buch der Lieder); the melody is by Robert Schumann (from Dichterliebe, op. 48).

Heinrich Heine, who came to fame with his alltime German classic Volkslied "Ich weiss nicht, was soll es bedeuten" (Lied von der Loreley), immortalized himself as a poet with his Buch der Lieder (The Book of Songs), first published 1827 by Heine´s good friend, Julius Campe of Hamburg, one of Germany´s most prolific and courageous publishers of his time. Robert Schumann´s genius made Heines´s Lieder an international success long after the poet´s death as a pretty poor man and refugee in his beloved Paris.

The Lieder, charming gems of sparkling poetry, praising youth, springtime, love, Liebeskummer and loss of love - and of course Heine´s lifelong tender spot: women, mostly pretty but selfish women - are drenched with a typical German attitude towards life and its many spare, idle, waste and at last lost chances:
Wehmut

Heinrich Heines Buch der Lieder is one of the most often published collections of German poetry: numerous copies of various editions, hardcover and pocket, used and new, can be purchased on the internet, as
Eurobuch tells us. Not easy to find out which book - from mass market products up to scholarly editions - would correspond the purchaser´s personal interests.

The Avid Amazon aka buy-a-fine-book has got a copy to offer at
at Amazon Marketplace! A very fine copy of a very smart edition of 1997 (Originalausgabe), published at
Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag (dtv), Bibliothek der Erstausgaben, edited by
Joseph Kiermeier-Debre, professor for German studies at Munich university. With editorial notes, a glossary and biographical notes on Heine. The fine front cover illustration is based on a painting by American abstract artist
Robert Motherwell. By the way: every single copy of Heinrich Heine´s Buch der Lieder listed at Amazon Marketplace is worth being considered for purchasing, of course. Help yourself and make your choice!

But now it´s time for listening to Christine Schäfer´s beautiful voice in a charming performance; the name of the young piano player is Natascha Osterkorn.

"Im wunderschönen Monat Mai, als alle Knospen sprangen, da ist in meinem Herzen die Liebe aufgegangen". Lovely.