Translated the finale version of Wie wird man seinen Schatten los from Mozart for Amuseoffyre today and ended up doing the first-act version as well. Original German in the video above, my English attempt below:
I give up on royal graces
And on the powdered curled wigs
The smell of dust and air of incense
No more - not enough for me
I want to taste the real life
Its lips are soft and broad and red
It smells of wine and warms me in the night
It whispers, cries and laughs
The only question is:
How do you cut off your own shade
How do you deny your own fate
How do you crawl out of your skin
How can you be somebody else
Who should you ask then
If you can’t understand yourself
How can you get free
If you cannot escape your shade?
What’s the use of immortality
I want to live before I’m buried
The laurel wreath in the crypt
No more are they my goal
What is the best of symphonies
Against a woman’s body
No violin can make as soft a sound
Like a hand in your hair
The question remains:
How do you cut off your own shade
How do you leave it all behind
How do you chase away your conscience
How do you flee from your own self
How can you break loose
When you’re the one standing in the way
How can you get free
If you cannot escape your shade?
(choir)
Behind you stands a demon
Wearing a young boy’s form
You can only serve him
He will take all that you own
You were only born
To fulfill his will
Behind you stands a demon
Wearing a young boy’s form
He’s at your side day and night
(Wolfgang)
Fear that takes my breath away
Weighing down my shoulders
A silence that demands of me
And doesn’t answer when I ask why
Invisible watchers
Hands around my throat
The shade that chases me - I think
One day he’ll carry me off!
How do you cut off your own shade
How do you deny your own fate
How do you crawl out of your skin
How can you be somebody else
Who should you ask then
If you can’t understand yourself
How can you get free
If you cannot escape your shade?
(Choir)
How do you cut off your own shade
How do you leave it all behind
How do you chase away your conscience
How do you flee from your own self
How can you break loose
When you’re the one standing in the way
You can’t flee from your own fate!
(Wolfgang)
How can I live under this fate?
Can I never
Can I never
Never ever
Flee from my own shade?
