by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Translation © by Anita Barrows and by Joanna Macy
Ich liebe dich, du sanftestes Gesetz
Language: German (Deutsch)
Ich liebe dich, du sanftestes Gesetz, an dem wir reiften, da wir mit ihm rangen; du großes Heimweh, das wir nicht bezwangen, du Wald, aus dem wir nie hinausgegangen, du Lied, das wir mit jedem Schweigen sangen, du dunkles Netz, darin sich flüchtend die Gefühle fangen. Du hast dich so unendlich groß begonnen an jenem Tage, da du uns begannst, - und wir sind so gereift in deinen Sonnen, so breit geworden und so tief gepflanzt, dass du in Menschen, Engeln und Madonnen dich ruhend jetzt vollenden kannst. Lass deine Hand am Hang der Himmel ruhn und dulde stumm, was wir dir dunkel tun.
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Authorship:
- by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Ich liebe dich, du sanftestes Gesetz", written 1899, appears in Das Stundenbuch, in 1. Das Buch vom mönchischen Leben , no. 25, first published 1905 [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 Helmut Degen (1911 - 1995), "Ich liebe dich, du sanftes Gesetz", from cantata Große Kantate. Zweite Fassung, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Chris Fictoor (b. 1948), "Das Heimweh", 1999 [ soprano, alto, bass, chorus, orchestra ], from oratorio Rilke Lieder, no. 6, Ascolta [sung text not yet checked]
- by Carl Ueter (1900 - 1985), "Ich liebe dich, du sanftestes Gesetz", op. 36, Heft 2 no. 1 (1935) [ alto, violin and piano ], from cantata Liebe zu Gott, no. 1, Tobias Broeker 2015 [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, Imant Raminsh.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2011-10-22
Line count: 15
Word count: 104
I love you, gentlest of Ways
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch)
I love you, gentlest of Ways [ ... ]
This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.
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 dich, du sanftestes Gesetz", written 1899, appears in Das Stundenbuch, in 1. Das Buch vom mönchischen Leben , no. 25, 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 you, gentlest of Ways", first performed 2005 [ voice and piano ], from Seven Songs from Rainer Maria Rilke’s The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Imant Raminsh (b. 1943), "I Love You, Gentlest of Ways", 2017, published 2017 [ medium voice and piano ], from Three texts from Rilke's book of hours, no. 2, Toronto, ONT : Plangere Publishing [sung text not yet checked]
This text was added to the website: 2023-08-19
Line count: 11
Word count: 79