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Wenn ihr Freunde vergeßt, wenn ihr die Euren all, O ihr Dankbaren, sie, euere Dichter schmäht, Gott vergeb' es, doch ehret Nur die Seele der Liebenden. Denn o saget, wo lebt menschliches Leben sonst, Da die knechtische jetzt alles, die Sorge zwingt? Darum wandelt der Gott auch Sorglos über dem Haupt uns längst. Doch, wie immer das Jahr kalt und gesanglos ist Zur beschiedenen Zeit, aber aus weißem Feld Grüne Halme doch sprossen, Oft ein einsamer Vogel singt, Wenn sich mählich der Wald dehnet, der Strom sich regt, Schon die mildere Luft leise von Mittag weht Zur erlesenen Stunde, So ein Zeichen der schönern Zeit, Die wir glauben, erwächst einzig genügsam noch, Einzig edel und fromm über dem ehernen, Wilden Boden die Liebe, Gottes Tochter, von ihm allein. Sei gesegnet, o sei, himmlische Pflanze, mir Mit Gesange gepflegt, wenn des ätherischen Nektars Kräfte dich nähren, Und der schöpf'rische Strahl dich reift. Wachs und werde zum Wald! eine beseeltere, Vollentblühende Welt! Sprache der Liebenden Sei die Sprache des Landes, Ihre Seele der Laut des Volks!
Authorship:
- by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843) [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Josef Matthias Hauer (1883 - 1959), "Die Liebe", op. 21 no. 1, copyright © 1924 [ voice and piano ], from Hölderlin Lieder, no. 1, Berlin, Schlesinger [sung text not yet checked]
- by Karl Michael Komma (1913 - 2012), "Die Liebe", 1954 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Richard Georg Strauss (1864 - 1949), "Die Liebe", op. 71 no. 3 (1921) [ voice and piano ], from Drei Hymnen von Friedrich Hölderlin, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "L'amor", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Love", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "L'amour", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Michael Komma
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 28
Word count: 174
If you forget friends, if you, you grateful ones, revile All your own, your poets, May God forgive it, but you should honour Only the soul of those who love. For oh tell, where does human life live otherwise, When anxiety, the oppressor, now coerces everything? Therefore the god, too, walks Unconcernedly over our heads for a long time already. Yet, however cold the year be and songless At the allotted time, yet from the white field Green grass blades sprout after all, Often a solitary bird sings, When the forest gradually expands, the river stirs, Already the milder air is quietly blown from noon At the selected hour, Thus a sign of a more beautiful time, In which we believe, Love still grows Solely austere, solely noble and pious over the immutable, wild terrain, God’s daughter, from him alone. Be blessed, oh be, heavenly plant, nurtured For me with song, when the powers Of the ethereal nectar are your sustenance And the creative beam causes you to ripen. Grow and become a forest! a more soulful Fully-blossoming world! May the language of lovers Be the language of the land, Its soul the sound of the people!
Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2014 by Sharon Krebs, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843)
This text was added to the website: 2014-06-12
Line count: 28
Word count: 197