Gute Nacht! /Good Night!

I have shared quite a lot of the circumstances around my break up with my boyfriend. My wonderful former boyfriend, the man I still love today. The awesome thing with love is: one can love without being loved back. So it is my prerogative to still love him, even though my love is not reciprocated anymore.  

It took me endlessly to understand what was going on in regard to the break-up. And my former partner was no help in my "trying to understand "-process. Over the Christmas holidays though I was able to have some time for myself and some time to emotionally process things.

And something wonderful happened: I found some peace of mind. A guy "showed up", out of the blue, and he - over and over and very patiently- answered all my existing questions in regard to my relationship break up. The name of the guy is: Franz. And this is actually his real name. No alias needed here :-)

The stats of this blog tell that most of my readers are from the US. So most of you won`t be really familiar with old german/austrian music. So, let me introduce you to one of the great austrian composers: Franz Schubert (1797 -1828) :-)

Schubert wrote wonderful music. He is famous for piano accompanied songs and one piece of music that has been of tremendous help for me and my heart is called: "Good Night". It is the first song of "Winterreise" / winter journey. And winter journey is the most famous romantic song cycle ever written. 

Ian Bostridge, a world class singer, has just published a full book on winter journey. And if you are in a position to spend a few bucks, I highly recommend buying that book. 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schuberts-Winter-Journey-Anatomy-Obsession/dp/0571282806  

Bostridge points out in his book that in Winterreise:

 “We are drawn in by an obsessively confessional soul, apparently an emotional exhibitionist who won’t give us the facts; but this allows us to supply the facts of our own lives, and make him our mirror.” 

Here is a video of the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9OysEmbDfE

And here is the text:
I came a stranger, Fremd bin ich eingezogen,
I depart a stranger. Fremd zieh' ich wieder aus. Mai was good to me Der Mai war mir gewogen With many a bunch of flowers. Mit manchem Blumenstrauß. The girl, she talked of love, Das Mädchen sprach von Liebe, The mother even of marriage, - Die Mutter gar von Eh', - Now, the world is so gloomy, Nun ist die Welt so trübe, The path covered in snow. Der Weg gehüllt in Schnee.
I cannot chose the time Ich kann zu meiner Reisen
of my journey, Nicht wählen mit der Zeit, I must find my own way Muß selbst den Weg mir weisen In this darkness. In dieser Dunkelheit. The moon casts a shadow – Es zieht ein Mondenschatten My only travel companion, Als mein Gefährte mit, And on the white meadows Und auf den weißen Matten I look for tracks of deer Such' ich des Wildes Tritt.


Why should I hang around any longer Was soll ich länger weilen, waiting for someone to throw me out? Daß man mich trieb hinaus ? Let stray dogs howl Laß irre Hunde heulen In front of their master’s house; Vor ihres Herren Haus; Love likes to wander – Die Liebe liebt das Wandern - God made it that way! Gott hat sie so gemacht. From one to the other -  Von einem zu dem andern -
God made it that way. Gott hat sie so gemacht -
Love likes to wander – Die Liebe liebt das Wandern  Good night, then, my love! Fein Liebchen, gute Nacht !
I will not disrupt your dream, Will dich im Traum nicht stören, It would only trouble your tranquility, Wär schad' um deine Ruh'. You shall not hear my step, Sollst meinen Tritt nicht hören - Softly, softly the door closes. Sacht, sacht die Türe zu ! I write on the gate as I go by: Schreib im Vorübergehen Good night. Ans Tor dir: Gute Nacht, So that you may know Damit du mögest sehen, I have thought of you. An dich hab' ich gedacht.

I listened to "good night" for about 372 times in the last weeks :-) And the more I listened the more I realized: All is well.

I guess you guys remember vividly how urgently I wanted my boyfriend to send me a "good bye"-email. I whined on my blog about him not doing it for MONTHS.

The song "Gute Nacht" made me realize that I actually do have a right to ask for such a note. Schubert understood this. Even the guy in the song left a short note :-) And when my boyfriend contacted me again a while back, I took that email for what it was: a note to say: "I have thought of you. " This made me feel much better.

I understood: He just had to go. He is trying to find his own way.

I apologize to all of you who read so far and are still waiting for some domestic discipline content :-)

I promise, my next post will have kink in it :-)