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Four Serious Songs
Translations © by Laura Prichard
by Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897)
View original-language texts alone: Vier ernste Gesänge
Denn es gehet dem Menschen wie dem Vieh, wie dies stirbt, so stirbt er auch; und haben alle einerlei Odem; und der Mensch hat nichts mehr denn das Vieh: denn es ist alles eitel. Es fährt alles an einen Ort; es ist alles von Staub gemacht, und wird wieder zu Staub. Wer weiss, ob der Geist des Menschen aufwärts fahre, und der Odem des Viehes unterwärts unter die Erde fahre? Darum sahe ich, daß nichts bessers ist, denn dass der Mensch fröhlich sei in seiner Arbeit, denn das ist sein Teil. Denn wer will ihn dahin bringen, dass er sehe, was nach ihm geschehen wird?
Text Authorship:
- by Bible or other Sacred Texts , no title, Ecclesiastes 3:19-22 [an adaptation]
Based on:
- a text in Latin by Bible or other Sacred Texts , from Ecclesiastes 3:19-22
Go to the general single-text view
Note: There is a typo in Brahms's score in stanza 3, line 2, word 2. The score incorrectly has "das" here.
[I thought to myself:] "As it goes with Man, so it goes with animals, as one dies, so the other as well; and they all breathe the same air; therefore Man has nothing over the animals: it's vain to think otherwise. [We] all end up in the same place; [we] are all made from dust, and will return to dust. Who knows whether the human spirit may ascend, while animal spirits merely descend into the earth?" Therefore, I understood that nothing could be better than for a Man to be satisfied with his work, because that is his lot in life. For who could prepare him to see what the future has in store for him?
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2023 by Laura Prichard, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Bible or other Sacred Texts , no title, Ecclesiastes 3:19-22 [an adaptation]
Based on:
- a text in Latin by Bible or other Sacred Texts , from Ecclesiastes 3:19-22
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2023-08-17
Line count: 17
Word count: 116
Ich wandte mich und sahe an, alle, die Unrecht leiden unter der Sonne; Und siehe, da waren Tränen derer, Die Unrecht litten und hatten keinen Tröster; Und die ihnen Unrecht täten, waren zu mächtig, Dass sie keinen Tröster haben konnten. Da lobte ich die Toten, Die schon gestorben waren Mehr als die Lebendigen, Die noch das Leben hatten; Und der noch nicht ist, ist besser, als alle beide, Und des Bösen nicht inne wird, Das unter der Sonne geschieht.
Text Authorship:
- by Bible or other Sacred Texts , no title, Ecclesiastes, 4:1-3 [an adaptation]
Based on:
- a text in Latin by Bible or other Sacred Texts , from Ecclesiastes, 4:1-3
Go to the general single-text view
I returned, and saw all all the injustice under the sun; and I saw the tears of those who were oppressed, and they had no comforter, and those oppressors had so much power; they could have no comfort. So I praised the dead who had already died more than [I praised] the living who are still alive. And he who is neither [of these], is better than both [of these], who has not seen the evil that, under the sun, is done.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2023 by Laura Prichard, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Bible or other Sacred Texts , no title, Ecclesiastes, 4:1-3 [an adaptation]
Based on:
- a text in Latin by Bible or other Sacred Texts , from Ecclesiastes, 4:1-3
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2023-08-16
Line count: 13
Word count: 82
O Tod, wie bitter bist du, Wenn an dich gedenket ein Mensch, Der gute Tage und genug hat Und ohne Sorge lebet; Und dem es wohl geht in allen Dingen Und noch wohl essen mag! O Tod, wie bitter bist du. O Tod, wie wohl tust du dem Dürftigen, Der da schwach und alt ist, Der in allen Sorgen steckt, Und nichts Bessers zu hoffen, Noch zu erwarten hat! O Tod, wie wohl tust du!
Text Authorship:
- by Bible or other Sacred Texts , from Ecclesiasticus (Sirach), 41:1-2. [an adaptation]
Based on:
- a text in Latin by Bible or other Sacred Texts , Sirach, 41:1-4
See other settings of this text.
O Death, how bitter are you, when a man thinks about you, who has good days and plenty and lives worry-free and who is fortunate in all things, and even eats well! O Death, how bitter are you. O Death, how well you care for the poor, [he] who is weak and old, and beset by all sorrows, and has nothing better to hope for nor even to expect; O Death, how well you do.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2023 by Laura Prichard, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Bible or other Sacred Texts , from Ecclesiasticus (Sirach), 41:1-2. [an adaptation]
Based on:
- a text in Latin by Bible or other Sacred Texts , Sirach, 41:1-4
Go to the general single-text view
Translator's notes:
Line 1, word 4 - "bitter", in the sense of hateful or irritating.
Line 3, word 6 - "plenty", literally, “enough” to meet his needs
O Tod, wie bitter bist du is the third movement of Brahms’ last set of songs Vier ernste Gesänge, op. 121. Its text (Ecclesiastes 41:1-2) uses Luther’s translation of an ancient Jewish wisdom text from the book of Ecclesiasticus (also called the Book of Sirach). Brought up Lutheran in Hamburg, Brahms was familiar with both Martin Luther’s 1526 Deutsche Messe (one of the first plainchant settings of the mass to use German text) as well as Luther’s translation of the Bible and apocrypha. Luther printed his Apocrypha (found in the Greek Septuagint, but not in the Hebrew Masoretic text) between his Old and New Testaments, adapting a translation by his friends Philipp Melanchthon and Justus Jonas (professors of Greek and of Law at Wittenberg).
This text was added to the website: 2023-08-16
Line count: 13
Word count: 75
1 Wenn ich mit Menschen - und mit Engelzungen redete
und hätte der Liebe nicht,
so wäre ich ein tönend Erz oder eine klingende Schelle.
Und wenn ich weissagen könnte und wüßte alle Geheimnisse
und alle Erkenntnis und hätte allen Glauben,
also daß ich Berge versetzte,
und hätte der Liebe nicht, so wäre ich nichts.
Und wenn ich alle meine Habe den Armen gäbe
und ließe meinen Leib brennen
und hätte der Liebe nicht,
so wäre mir's nichts nütze.
...
Wir sehen jetzt durch einen Spiegel
in einem dunkeln Worte,
dann aber von Angesicht zu Angesichte.
Jetzt erkenne ich's stückweise;
dann aber werd' ich's erkennen,
gleich wie ich erkennet bin.
Nun aber bleibet Glaube, Hoffnung, Liebe, diese drei;
aber die Liebe ist die größeste unter ihnen.
Text Authorship:
- by Bible or other Sacred Texts , from Corinthians 13
Based on:
- a text in Latin by Bible or other Sacred Texts , from Corinthians, 13
See other settings of this text.
1 If I could speak with the tongues of men - and of angels,
and had not love,
so would I become like sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
And if I could prophecy,
and could know all secrets
and all knowledge; and I had complete faith,
so that I could move mountains;
and had not love, I would be nothing.
And if I gave all my possessions to the poor,
and gave my body to be burned,
and had not love, it would not benefit me.
[ ... ]
We see now through as
though in a darkened mirror,
but then face to face.
Now I know in part;
but then I shall know,
just as also I am known.
Now abide faith, hope, love, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2023 by Laura Prichard, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Bible or other Sacred Texts , from Corinthians 13
Based on:
- a text in Latin by Bible or other Sacred Texts , from Corinthians, 13
Go to the general single-text view
Translator's note: This specific kind of love is referred to as agape [loving charity, or the love between God and humanity] from the Ancient Greek ἀγάπη (agápē).
This text was added to the website: 2023-08-16
Line count: 38
Word count: 143