Submitted by Maiko Heller on Mo, 12/26/2011 - 00:02
48
Ännchen von Tharau
Little Ann of Tharau

Ännchen von Tharau ist’s, die mir gefällt,

sie ist mein Leben, mein Gut und mein Geld.

Ännchen von Tharau hat wieder ihr Herz

auf mich gerichtet in Lieb’ und in Schmerz.

Ännchen von Tharau, mein Reichtum, mein Gut,

du meine Seele, mein Fleisch und mein Blut.

 

Würdest du gleich einmal von mir getrennt,

lebtest da, wo man die Sonne kaum kennt:

Ich will dir folgen durch Wälder und Meer,

Eisen und Kerker und feindliches Heer.

Ännchen von Tharau, mein Licht, meine Sonn’,

mein Leben schließt sich um deines herum.

It’s little Ann of Tharau that I like,

she is my life, my possession, and my money.

Little Ann of Tharau has again set her heart

on me in love and pain.

Little Ann of Tharau, my wealth, my possession,

you, my soul, my flesh and my blood.

 

If you were to be separated from me once,

were living where nobody knows the sun:

I will follow you through woods and the sea,

iron and dungeon, hostile army.

Little Ann of Tharau, my light, my sun,

my life is embraced around yours.

 

In 1637, the lyrics were originally written in the dialect of the Samland. In 1648, the lyrics were already published in a song book of the poet association of Königsberg with a notice that the “authorship [is] uncertain”. The lyrics are always attributed to Simon Dach (1605-1659), however, today it is certain that he was not the author. Nevertheless, in Tharau, there is a Simon-Dachs-fountain the figure of which is, of course, little Ann of Tharau. Herder translated the lyrics to standard German, and Friedrich Silcher composed that melody that is still known today in 1825. Ever since, this song has been one of the best known German songs.