Η ιδανική καταφυγή

Goethe's "Kennst du das Land?" from his "Wilhelm Meister" attracted the interest of many composers before Wolf attempted his setting. Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, and Liszt each wrote songs to the original German text and, in French translation, the poem formed the fulcrum for Ambroise Thomas' opera "Mignon", heard there as "Connais-tu le pays?" "Mignon ('Kennst du das Land?') is a visionary poem, a story related by the child Mignon as she recalls her Italian homeland after having suffered forced removal to Germany by a group of ruffians. After enduring a life of abuse and being forced to sing, dance, and entertain, she tells her story to Wilhelm Meister, now her protector. Goethe's strophic form is kept intact, although Wolf's complex harmonies and achingly beautiful and evocative melodies are exquisitely elaborate. While some critics have urged consideration of Schubert's setting as a worthy one, the mysterious intensity of Goethe's verse is nowhere to be found there. Though Mignon is a child, she is a child who has experienced much and it is with an adult's imagination and comprehension that she conjures the vision of her longed-for home. The singer must at all costs avoid sounding prosaic. A broad panoply of colors must be summoned and the singer and pianist must voice the music as if in a trance. The piano part, no less than the vocal line, is superbly conceived. The opening measures for piano, then for piano and voice, are portentous and calm through often-wide intervals. "Dahin," Mignon cries longingly. The second verse increases in urgency as the child recalls the pillared dwelling of her earlier life. The third verse begins in dark tones, conjuring mountains where waters plummet from sheer precipices. The music rises to a terrifying climax, tremolando chords thundering in the piano as the singer summons all available volume in the upper middle register. A final cry of "Dahin! Dahin" comes from Mignon's lips before she quietly pleads, "Let us go there." Having addressed Wilhelm Meister as "love" and "protector," she finally calls him "father." The question is begged: was this a recollection — or a dream?
Erik Erikson, AllMusic.com

«Ξέρεις εσύ τη χώρα όπου ανθίζουν
οι λεμονιές, όπου τα πορτοκάλια
μες στη δασιά τη φυλλωσιά χρυσίζουν;
Γλυκύτατο αγεράκι κατεβαίνει
από το γαλανό ουρανό. φυτρώνει
ήσυχα εκεί η σμυρτιά κ' η παινεμένη
δάφνη. Πες μου την ξέρεις; Εκεί κάτω
αχ εκεί κάτω πιθυμώ να πάω
μόνο μ΄εσέ, γλυκέ μου, που αγαπάω.

Ξέρεις εσύ το σπίτι, που η σκεπή του
επάνω σε κολόνες ακουμπάει;
αστράφτ΄η σάλα η κάθε κάμαρή του
λαμποκοπάει΄κι αγάλματα πολλά ΄ναι
μαρμάρινα εκεί, που με κοιτάνε
σαν να μου λεν: Λοιπόν τι σούχουν κάνει;
Πες μου το ξέρεις; Θέλω εκεί να πάω
μ΄εσένα, ω στήριγμά μου, που αγαπάω.

Το ξέρεις το βουνό, πούχει το δρόμο
το στενωπό, που χάνεται στα νέφη;
η μούλα μες στης καταχνιάς τον τρόμο
ζητάει το πέρασμά της΄στις σπηλιές
κάθουνται των δρακόντων οι παλιές
γενιές΄ο βράχος τρέμει΄επάνωθέ του
μ΄ορμή το ξεροπόταμο περνάει.
Πες μου το ξέρεις; Εκεί κάτω πάει 
ο δρόμος ο δικός μας. Εκεί πέρα
πηγαίνουμε! Να φύγουμε, πατέρα! (...)»

Από τη Μινιόν»  του Johann Wolfgang von Geothe, σε μετάφραση Ηλία Βουτιερίδη.