Louise T. Guinther

We’ve arrived at my favorite part of spring — the time when everything lavender (and anywhere else on the purple spectrum) bursts into bloom. First came the lavender-grey hyacinths, then the deep blue-purple grape hyacinths

and the dark-magenta tulips, next the Virginia bluebells, with their blooms the color of a twilit sky,

the periwinkle vincas and the dark-amethyst violets, uninvited but always welcome.

Soon the wisteria joined the party, its lavish, grape-like clusters straight out of a Tiffany window. (We don’t have any in our garden, but I like to “borrow” my neighbors’ vines on my daily bike rides.) Best of all, for their wafting fragrance as well as their stately beauty, are the delicately, well, lilac lilacs and the classic irises with several subtle hues blended into one glorious effect and a scent that my mother always amusingly likened to grape soda.

This week, the English bluebells and our first-ever alium arrived, for a perfect rhapsody in lavender.

Springtime always puts a song or several into my heart. In fact all the performing arts seem to get into the spirit of the season. For the dance fans, here’s a young ballerina in the lilac time of life, and perfectly costumed for the occasion.

Speaking of lilac time, Heinrich Berté and C. H. Clutsam’s delightful Lilac Time — a pastiche of Schubert’s songs telling a fictionalized tale of the composer’s romantic life — provides us with this lilting serenade, which beautifully captures in sound the enchanting breezes of the lavender season. The singer is the elegant Australian baritone John Cameron.

Cameron is joined by a fellow Aussie, the coloratura June Bronhill, well known in London’s West End, for another apt excerpt from Lilac Time, “When the Lilac Bloom Uncloses.”

The last stop on our mini-tour of Lilac Time is this jaunty ensemble, guaranteed to bring a spring to your step and the aroma of lilacs to your nose.

Lilac Time also happens to be the name of a silent movie, starring Gary Cooper, which this charming ditty was written to accompany.

Operetta seems a particularly apt medium for the expression of spring’s magic, and no one does operetta better than the incomparable Nelson Eddy. I’ll gladly gather lilacs with him any day, if he’ll sing to me along that shady lane.

For those who prefer a Wagnerian bass to an operettic tenor, there’s always the enchanting Flieder (Lilac) monologue from Die Meistersinger, Wagner’s most gemütlich work, which gold-standard American baritone Lawrence Tibbett renders here in English. The translation says elder flower, but flieder actually means lilac.

We’ll end with a particularly lovely evocation of spring from operetta superstar Richard Tauber, whose voice itself carries all the magic of a balmy zephyr in May. The lyrics of this little ditty don’t fit the color scheme, as it refers to the white not the lavender lilac, but everything else about it is just right.

Frühling, Frühling, Frühling, wer dich liebt wie ich.
Frühling, Frühling, Frühling, voll Glück erwart' ich dich!
Oh schein' in mein Stübchen rech bald nur hinein,
mein Schatz hat schon Sehnsucht nach dir!
Er sagt: Ich brauch' Sonne um glücklich zu sein,
dann wünsche dir alles von mir.

Wenn der weiße Flieder wieder blüht,
sing' ich dir mein schönstes Liebeslied.
Immer, immer wieder knie ich vor dir nieder,
trink mit dir den Duft vom weißen Flieder.
Wenn der weiße Flieder wieder blüht,
küß' ich deine roten Lippen müd'.
Wie im Land der Märchen werden wir ein Pärchen
wenn der weiße Flieder wieder blüht.
 
Liebling, Liebling, Liebling, zieht erst der Lenz ins Land,
Liebling, Liebling, Liebling, dann werden wir verwandt.
Der Lenz ist der Priester, der uns zwei vereint.
Die Sonne ist unser Altar,
Wenn sie uns mit goldenen Strahlen bescheint,
Dann sind wir das glücklichste Paar.
 
Wenn der weiße Flieder wieder blüht, etc.

Springtime, springtime, springtime, who loves you as I do?
Springtime, springtime, springtime, full of joy I await you.
Oh shine into my chamber as soon as you can,
My dear one is longing for you!
She says, "I need sunshine to be happy.
Then you can ask anything of me."

When the white lilac blooms again, 
I sing you my most beautiful love song.
Ever and again I kneel before you
And drink in the scent of the white lilac.
When the white lilac blooms again,
I kiss your soft red lips.
As in the land of fairy tales, we will be a couple
When the white lilac blooms again.

Darling, darling, darling, as soon as spring fills this land,
Darling, darling, darling, we will be united then.
Springtime will be the priest that makes us two one.
The sun will be our altar.
When he shines upon us his golden beams
We'll be the happiest pair in the world.

When the white lilac blooms again, etc.