Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.
It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.
If you wish to reprint translations, please use the Reprint Basket (upper right hand corner).
Reminder: You must always use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.
Schmerzliche Wonnen und wonnige Schmerzen, Wasser im Auge und Feuer im Herzen, Stolz auf den Lippen und Seufzer im Sinne, Honig und Galle zugleich ist die Minne. Oft, wenn ein Seelchen vom [Leib sich]1 geschieden, Möcht' es Sankt Michael tragen [zum]2 Frieden. Aber der Dämon auch möcht' es verschlingen; Keiner will weichen, da geht es ans Ringen. Seelchen, gequältes, in ängstlichem Wogen Fühlst du dich hierhin und dorthin gezogen, Aufwärts und abwärts. In solches Getriebe Stürzt zwischen Himmel und Höll' uns die Liebe. Mütterchen, ach, und mit siebenzehn Jahren Hab ich dies Hangen und Bangen erfahren, Hab's dann verschworen mit Thränen der Reue; Ach, und schon lieb' ich, schon lieb' ich auf's neue.
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotesNote: this is an original poem and not a translation.
Confirmed with Spanisches Liederbuch von Emanuel Geibel und Paul Heyse, Dritte Auflage, Stuttgart und Berlin: J.G. Cotta'sche Buchhandlung Nachfolger, 1904, page 100.
1 Wolf: "Leibe"2 Wolf: "in"
Text Authorship:
- by Emanuel Geibel (1815 - 1884), no title, appears in Spanisches Liederbuch, in 2. Weltliche Lieder, no. 53 [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 Hugo Wolf (1860 - 1903), "Schmerzliche Wonnen und wonnige Schmerzen", 1889-90, from Spanisches Liederbuch: Weltliche Lieder, no. 18
Score: IMSLP [external link]  [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Goig dolorós i penes joioses", copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Laura Stanfield Prichard) , "Painful delight and delightful pain", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2003-11-20
Line count: 16
Word count: 115
Painful delight and delightful pain, Water in [my] eyes and fire in [my] heart, Pride on [my] lips and sighs in [my] senses, Just like honey and gall is love. Often, when a soul departs its body, Saint Michael would like to carry [it] to peace. But the Devil would also like to devour it; Neither wants to yield, on they fight. Soul, tortured, in fearful heaving, you feel drawn here and there, upward and downward. In such a whirl love plunges between heaven and hell. Dear Mother, ah, already at seventeen years I have felt this proclivity and fear. So I’ve foresworn it with tears of repentance ah, but already I’m in love again, already I love anew.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura Stanfield 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 Emanuel Geibel (1815 - 1884), no title, appears in Spanisches Liederbuch, in 2. Weltliche Lieder, no. 53
This text was added to the website: 2016-02-08
Line count: 16
Word count: 119
