Stolz's "Vor Meinem Vaterhaus," and How We Find Out that Sometimes We Go Into the World Looking for What We Already Have

Image by Hans from Pixabay

When I feel restless in the middle of what I have been called to do, sometimes it is not my beloved Kurt Möll's voice that calls me back ... sometimes it is Karl Ridderbusch singing a little-known song by Robert Stolz...

A man, aging, remembers the linden tree in his father's yard, and the bank (or bench, perhaps, depending on translation) under it where he used to sit ... and with a little study, one can see the importance of linden trees and how all-sufficient they are as trees go ... the leaves and sweet-scented flowers can be eaten and the fruit can as well (and can be be made into a chocolate substitute, maybe ... check this out here, and read all the comments!). The tree is beautiful at all seasons, with abundant shade in summer that turns into spectacular color to the mid-fall ... local bees make delicious honey from the flowers ... the wood can be used to make musical instruments and all fine woodworks ... so, presuming you were already heir to a home, that linden tree could give you practically everything else you would need. That tree represents abundance!

And yet, the character in the song decides to go see the world, and is far from home, and does not know when he will be able to return... he has come to great cities in the world ... but there is no bloom or shine on the great architecture he has seen ... there is a lot to see and do, but no love ... in the next verse, the character recalls the well by which he and a particular young lady used to sit, and that he knows she loved him ... and he knows that if he goes home, he will hear her laugh from joy ... but only there ... and still, he does not know when he will ever get home again.

Now one can wait too long to ever go home again ... but we will have Herr Möll sing us the story of the Ruined Mill at another time ... Herr Ridderbusch's beautiful singing deserves a post of its own ... the depth and sweetness of his voice, combined with the tenderness of his approach to this beautiful song, stands quite alone. His age at the time of this video also makes this extra poignant ... it looks a little more urgent with him saying that he (still) does not know when he will get home again, which is why Löwe's "Der verfallene Mühle" comes to mind ...

But, back to Stolz's song ... the poet is Bruno Hardt-Warden, and even though my German reading is still not the best, I can see familiar turns of phrase that I note in other lieder ... the tension between the life in connection with nature in one's own homeland and going abroad to seek one's fortune ... Schumann's "In der Fremde" and Schubert's "Der Wanderer" also go around those same themes though much more grimly because neither character there can ever find that thing that makes home, home, ever again. "Vor meinem Vaterhaus" more gently and hopefully approaches this same subject, and Herr Ridderbusch has the perfect voice ... it comes to my mind as a reminder...

Sometimes when you have gotten a big thing done and you find that it is the beginning, not the end, that induces a restlessness ... that also for me is compounded by the years of relative isolation because of Covid-19. There are so many things I want to do and see, and so many people across my homeland I wish to visit, and even places in the world I long to see ... perhaps you might even guess where I would love to sit under a linden tree, just from so much of the music I post about ...

But then again, this is what I have to look forward to in the coming seasons ...

Photo taken by the author, Deeann D. Mathews, January 7, 2022

Photo taken by the author, Deeann D. Mathews, November 7, 2021

And, vor meinem Familiehaus steht ein Apfelbaum -- in my own yard, there is an apple tree if not a linden tree, and six years ago yesterday, this was its fruit in a shockingly early ripening.

Photo taken by the author, Deeann D. Mathews, September 21, 2017

I will need to get out soon and see how many apples I have this year ... October is usually the month for apples here!

The lesson for me here is that the abundance where I am, right now, is more than sufficient for me, and the task for me is to simply be content. This was also written into Scripture by the Apostle Paul in the book of Philippians: "I have learned, in whatever state I am in, therewith to be content. I know how to be abased, and how to abound, how to be hungry, and how to be full, how to be have much, and how to suffer loss." This matches well with the wisdom of Solomon from Ecclesiastes: "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven."

It is still hard -- I am a devout Christian, and it is still hard sometimes. I used to listen to the sound of my beloved trains traveling through the night, and imagine myself taking the trip of my dreams ...

... and I find I cannot control when the longing will come over me to go do things that I feel have been delayed long enough, even though I know what I am meant to do now right here where I am. But then the sweet singing of Herr Ridderbusch reminds me that I am home, where many can only wish that they could be, and also have a home on Hive, a home permitted at this moment in time to only thousands, not millions, of people -- not yet. My fifth book has been a pleasure to write, and will be even more of a pleasure to see do what it can ... Seizing the Crypto Bull Run for Financial Freedom will allow anyone who reads it to get in on the right end of the next run at this early stage when it does not take massive amounts of investment to make good gains... all I have to do is plan days at my favorite local places within walking distance to celebrate.

There is another verse, from John 14 ... "In my Father's house are many mansions ... I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself." That was Jesus Christ, talking with His disciples, who would never again be fully at home here ... and, interestingly, there is a great tree of life in that place He spoke of, whose fruits and leaves are both wonderful, and where pure water flows and where all tears are to be wiped away forever ... that place for which the heart of an informed Christian yearns, without quite knowing when she will get there ... but I will ... and this is why I like to think that the character in "Vor meinem Vaterhaus" gets home too, provided at some point he decides to make it a priority to get there.

We do not always realize the power of the choices in front of us when we see the accumulated results of the choices we have made in the past impacting our present ... but if one's heart is turning toward home, at least the choice to put one's foot in front of the other in the right direction just might be available.

But then there is the wisdom of "Keep thy foot from evil." I am where I need to be, right now, and the abundance here is more than sufficient ... soon I will be in showers of gold within walking distance of my home ...

Photo taken by the author, Deeann D. Mathews, November 23, 2021

... and on those days I will remember the voice of Karl Ridderbusch singing "Vor meinem Vaterhaus" and live in the having of the joy that song expresses as sweet memory and poignant hope!