by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
Translation © by Sharon Krebs

In deine Reimart hoff ich mich zu finden
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  CAT DUT ENG FRE
In deine Reimart hoff ich mich zu finden,
Das Wiederholen soll mir auch gefallen,
Erst werd ich Sinn, sodann auch Worte finden;
Zum zweitenmal soll mir kein Klang erschallen,
Er müßte denn besondern Sinn begründen,
Wie du's vermagst, Begünstigter vor allen!

Denn wie ein Funke fähig, zu entzünden
Die Kaiserstadt, wenn Flammen grimmig wallen,
Sich winderzeugend glühn von eignen Winden,
Er, schon erloschen, schwand zu Sternenhallen:
So schlang's von dir sich fort mit ew'gen Gluten,
Ein deutsches Herz von frischem zu ermuten.

Zugemeßne Rhythmen reizen freilich,
Das Talent erfreut sich wohl darin,
Doch wie schnelle widern sie abscheulich,
Hohle Masken ohne Blut und Sinn.
Selbst der Geist erscheint sich nicht erfreulich,
Wenn er nicht, auf neue Form bedacht,
Jener toten Form ein Ende macht.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   R. Strauss 

R. Strauss sets stanza 3

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Text Authorship:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Apportioned rhythms", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 19
Word count: 124

Apportioned rhythms
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
With your pattern of rhyming I hope to reconcile myself,
The repetition shall also please me,
First I shall find the sense, thereafter also the words;
No sound shall ring out a second time,
Unless it were necessary to underscore a particular meaning,
As you are able to do, you who before all others are blessed [with talent]

For as a spark is capable of igniting
The imperial city, when flames surge fiercely,
Generated by winds, and glowing in their own winds,
He, already extinguished, vanished to the halls of the stars:
Thus, with eternal fires, it coiled forth from you,
With courage to fill afresh a German heart.

Apportioned rhythms admittedly attract one,
One’s talent can truly take pleasure in them,
But how quickly they can disgust abominably,
Hollow masks without substance and sense.
Even one’s spirit is not content with itself
If, intent on new forms, it does not
Make an end of every dead form.

Text 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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This text was added to the website: 2014-09-17
Line count: 19
Word count: 158