“O Believe , My Heart, O Believe!” – #ChoralMarch concludes March 31st with finale of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection”

It’s the end of my #ChoralMarch project. Thank you to those who commented kindly and Liked etc. I would like to go out on a high note, with the choral finale of Mahler’s epic Symphony No. 2, Resurrection. Feeling a little impure about excerpting a piece, except YouTube handily does it for me, with no less than Leonard Bernstein giving it his usual loads on the podium:

Here is a slightly more modest setting. Well, not really. The Morristown Presbyterian Church looks pretty imposing. Appropriately this recording is from Easter Sunday. And I like this shift from the concert hall to the place of worship:

Here’s a link to a Haitnik-conducted performance on Spotify:

Here is the German text:

lt solo:
O glaube, mein Herz, o glaube:
Es geht dir nichts verloren!
Dein ist, ja dein, was du gesehnt,
Dein, was du geliebt, was du gestritten!

Sopran solo:
O glaube: Du wardst nicht umsonst geboren!
Hast nicht umsonst gelebt, gelitten!

Chor und Alt:
Was entstanden ist, das muß vergehen!
Was vergangen, auferstehen!
Hör auf zu beben!
Bereite dich zu leben!

Sopran und Alt solo:
O Schmerz! Du Alldurchdringer!
Dir bin ich entrungen.
O Tod! Du Allbezwinger!
Nun bist du bezwungen!
Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen,
In heißem Liebesstreben
Werd ich entschweben
Zum Licht, zu dem kein Aug’ gedrungen!

Chor:
Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen,
Werd ich entschweben!
Sterben werd’ ich, um zu leben!
Aufersteh’n, ja aufersteh’n wirst du,
Mein Herz, in einem Nu!
Was du geschlagen,
Zu Gott wird es dich tragen!

And a handy English translation:

Oh believe, my heart, believe:
Nothing will get lost!
What you have longed for is yours!
Yours, what you have loved, what you have strived for!

Soprano solo:
Oh believe: you were not born in vain!
You have not lived, suffered to no avail!

Chorus and alto:
What has come into being must go!
What is gone must rise again!
Stop quaking!
Be willing to live!

Soprano and alto solo:
Oh pain! You all-penetrating power!
I am wrested from you!
Oh death! You all-conquering power!
You are vanquished at last!
With wings that I have gained
in a fervent striving for love
I shall rise to a light
which no eye has ever seen!

Chorus:
With wings that I have gained
I shall rise!
I shall die to live!
Arise, yes, you shall rise again,
my heart, in no time!
What you have beaten
to God it will bear you!