Lieder Line by Line: and Word for Word
It's impossible to sing with true feeling if you don't know exactly what the words mean--and, for that matter, it's a lot harder to memorize music when the words are just so much gibberish. This book is an indispensable guide for the student or professional singer (or music lover) with an interest in German lieder. It gives both a word-by-word translation of the German words beneath each line of the original poems, and separate summaries of the overall meaning for each verse. The book includes words to the best-known settings of Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Wagner, Brahms, Wolf, Mahler, and Richard Strauss. Ideally, singers should make their own translations, but when reality intrudes and it's just not possible, this is an excellent substitute.