Posted here is a song by Jean Sibelius: “Se’n har jag ej frågat mera” (Since then I have enquired no further).

The text is by Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804-1877). Runeberg was a Finno-Swedish lyric and epic poet. He is the national poet of Finland.

Completed in 1891-1892, this song was included in Sibelius’s Seven Songs, Op. 17. It is performed here beautifully by Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter.

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

   June 2018

 

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TEXT – Finnish

Se’n har jag ej frågat mera

Varför är så flyktig våren,

varför dröjer sommarn icke?

Så jag tänkte fordom ofta,

frågte, utan svar, av mången.

Se’n den älskade mig svikit,

se’n till köld hans värme blivit,

all hans sommar blivit vinter,

se’n har jag ej frågat mera,

Känt blott djupt uti mitt sinne, att det sköna är förgängligt,

att det ljuva icke dröjer.

 

TEXT – English

 

Since Then I Have Questioned No Further

 

Why is springtime so brief,

Why does summer not tarry?

This before I often wondered,

Asked – without reply – of many.
Since the one I loved betrayed me,
Since to ice his ardour turned,
All his summer turned to winter,
Since then I have questioned no further,
Only felt, deep in my heart,
That the beautiful is transient, The delightful does not last.