Der Tod: Er erschreckt uns, unser Retter, der Tod

Er erschreckt uns
Unser Retter, der Tod. Sanft kommt er, 
Leis' im Gewölke des Schlafs.

Aber er bleibt fürchterlich, und wir sehn nur 
Nieder ins Grab ob er gleich uns zur Vollendung 
Führt aus Hüllen der Nacht hinüber
In der Erkenntnisse Land.

Note: this text is often attributed to Hölderlin, but it comes from stanzas 8 and 9 of an ode by Klopstock. It can be found in one of Hölderlin's notebooks under the title "Stammbuchblätter : Für einen Unbekannten". Beneath the poem it says "Ihr gehorsamster D. Hoelderlin".

Submitted by Martin Jahn

Authorship

• sometimes misattributed to Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843)

• a text in German (Deutsch) by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724 - 1803), "Die Zukunft"
• Go to the text.

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

• by Paul Hindemith (1895 - 1963), "Der Tod: Er erschreckt uns, unser Retter, der Tod", 1931. [chorus] [
   text verified 1 time
  ]

Text added to the website: 2011-02-07.
Last modified: 2014-06-16 10:04:14
Line count: 7
Word count: 42

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