Ob ein Gott sei? Ob er einst erfülle

Ob ein Gott sei? Ob er einst erfülle,
Was die Sehnsucht weinend sich verspricht?
Ob, vor irgendeinem Weltgericht,
Sich dies rätselhafte Sein enthülle?
Hoffen soll der Mensch! Er frage nicht!

Die du so gern in heil'gen Nächten feierst
Und sanft und weich den Gram verschleierst,
Der eine zarte Seele quält,
O Hoffnung! Laß, durch dich empor gehoben,
Den Dulder ahnen, daß dort oben
Ein Engel seine Tränen zählt!

Wenn, längst verhallt, geliebte Stimmen schweigen;
Wenn unter ausgestorb'nen Zweigen
Verödet die Erinn'rung sitzt:
Dann nahe dich, wo dein Verlaßner trauert 
Und, von der Mitternacht umschauert,
Sich auf versunk'ne Urnen stützt.

Und blickt er auf, das Schicksal anzuklagen,
Wenn scheidend über seinen Tagen
Die letzten Strahlen untergehn:
Dann laß' ihn um den Rand des Erdentraumes
Das Leuchten eines Wolkensaumes
Von einer nahen Sonne seh'n!

Translation(s): DUT ENG FRE

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Authorship

• by Christoph August Tiedge (1752 - 1841), no title, appears in Urania, in Erster Gesang (Klagen des Zweiflers) [ author's text checked 1 time]

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

• by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), "An die Hoffnung", op. 32, stanzas 2-4. [
   text verified 1 time
  ]
• by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), "An die Hoffnung", op. 94 (1813), stanzas 1-4,2. [
   text verified 1 time
  ]
• by Friedrich Heinrich Himmel (1765 - 1814), "An die Hoffnung", 1814, published 1880, stanzas 2-4, from Gesänge aus Tiedge's Urania, no. 3. [
   text verified 1 time
  ]

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

• ENG English (Emily Ezust) , title 1: "To Hope", copyright ©
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , title 1: "À l'espérance", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , title 1: "Aan de hoop", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project, and I have been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your gift is greatly appreciated.      - Emily Ezust

To Hope

Is there a God? Will he someday fulfill 
The promises for which longing cries out? 
Will, before the court of the world,
This puzzle ever reveal itself?
Man must hope. He does not ask!

You, who so gladly celebrates on sacred nights
And gently and softly veils the grief
That torments a tender soul,
O Hope! Raised through you,
Let the sufferer feel that there above,
An angel counts his tears!

When, long hushed, beloved voices are silenced,
When, underneath dead branches
Memory sits desolate,
Then come closer to where your forsaken one mourns
And, looking around at midnight,
Supports himself against sunken urns.

And if he looks up to accuse Fate,
When, departing with his days,
The last rays set:
Then permit him to see, at the rim of this earthly dream,
The light of the cloud's hem
From the near-by sun!

IMPORTANT NOTE: The material directly above is protected by copyright and appears here by special permission. If you wish to copy it and distribute it, you must obtain permission or you will be breaking the law. Once you have permission, you must give credit to the author and display the copyright symbol ©. Copyright infringement is a criminal offense under international law.

Authorship

• Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust

  Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:

  Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
  from the LiederNet Archive -- http://www.lieder.net/

  For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.
  
  
  (licenses at lieder dot net)
  
  
  

• a text in German (Deutsch) by Christoph August Tiedge (1752 - 1841), no title, appears in Urania, in Erster Gesang (Klagen des Zweiflers) DUT FRE
• This text was set to music by the following composer(s): Ludwig van Beethoven, Friedrich Heinrich Himmel. Go to the text.

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.