Ich liebe meines Wesens Dunkelstunden, in welchen meine Sinne sich vertiefen; in ihnen hab ich, wie in alten Briefen, mein täglich Leben schon gelebt gefunden und wie Legende weit und überwunden. Aus ihnen kommt mir Wissen, daß ich Raum zu einem zweiten zeitlos breiten Leben habe. Und manchmal bin ich wie der Baum, der, reif und rauschend, über einem Grabe den Traum erfüllt, den der vergangne Knabe (um den sich seine warmen Wurzeln drängen) verlor in Traurigkeiten und Gesängen.
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Confirmed with Rainer Maria Rilke, Werke, kommentierte Ausgabe in vier Bänden, Band 1 Gedichte 1895 bis 1910, herausgegeben von Manfred Engel und Ulrich Fülleborn, Frankfurt am Main und Leipzig: Insel Verlag, 1996, page 158.
Text Authorship:
- by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Ich liebe meines Wesens Dunkelstunden", written 1899, appears in Das Stundenbuch, in 1. Das Buch vom mönchischen Leben , no. 5, first published 1905 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Herbert Blendinger (b. 1936), "Ich liebe meines Wesens Dunkelstunden", op. 53 no. 2 (1990), first performed 1991 [ baritone and piano ], from Vom mönchischen Leben, no. 2, Manuskript [sung text not yet checked]
- by Tanja Elisa Glinsner (b. 1995), "Ich liebe meines Wesens Dunkelstunden", 2012 [ soprano and piano ], from Meines Lebens Dunkelstunden [sung text not yet checked]
- by Brent McCall (b. 1940), "Das Stundenbuch", 2002 [ speaker and accordion ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Raymond Murray Schafer (b. 1933), "Ich liebe meines Wesens Dunkelstunden" [ voice, strings and piano ], from Songs from Rilke's Book of Hours, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Regina Wittemeier (b. 1956), "Ich liebe meines Wesens Dunkelstunden", op. 34 (Ich lebe mein Leben in wachsenden Ringen) no. 5, published 2003 [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Anita Barrows , copyright © and by Joanna Macy , copyright © ; composed by Brad Mehldau.
- Also set in English, a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Terry Winter Owens.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "J'aime les heures obscures de mon être", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2008-05-19
Line count: 12
Word count: 79
I love the dark hours of my being [ ... ]
Text Authorship:
- by Anita Barrows , copyright © [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Joanna Macy , copyright © [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Ich liebe meines Wesens Dunkelstunden", written 1899, appears in Das Stundenbuch, in 1. Das Buch vom mönchischen Leben , no. 5, first published 1905
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Brad Mehldau (b. 1970), "I love the dark hours of my being", first performed 2005 [ voice and piano ], from Seven Songs from Rainer Maria Rilke’s The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
This text was added to the website: 2023-08-19
Line count: 14
Word count: 80