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Aphrodite! Listreiche Tochter des Zeus! Zu deinem funkelnden Throne fleh ich empor: Nicht schlage mit Qual und Trauer den Sinn mir, o Herrin. Sondern komm eilends, wenn du je erhört mein Gebet aus ferner Tiefe und es erfüllt hast und, das Haus deines Vaters verlassend, mir nahekamst auf goldgeschirrtem Gefährt, das leuchtend jagende Vögel über das dämmernde Land hin mit tausendfältigem Schwirren der Flügel dir zogen, hin durch die strahlende Kuppel des Himmels. Flink sanken sie her. Du aber, Selige, Lächeln über dem wandellos blühenden Antlitz, fragtest mich: was wieder ich litte, was wieder ich nach dir riefe? Was denn so ungestüm mein Herz, das rasende, wiederum wünsche zur Gabe? “Wen denn,” fragtest du, “wen soll ins Netz deiner Liebe überredend wieder ich treiben? Wer hat, o Sappho, dir Unrecht getan? Wisse, wer heute dich flieht, wird bald dich verfolgen– wer heut deine Gaben verschmäht, wird bald die seinen dir spenden– wer jetzt nicht liebt, wird lieben in kurzem, vergeblich sich sträubend.” So sprachst du. – Komm auch jetzt zu mir! Erhell’ mir das umschattete Herz, ende, wie ich’s ersehne, die wirre Mühsal und steh mir im Kampf hilfreich zur Seite –
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Text Authorship:
- by Rudolf Bach (1901 - 1957) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Aeolic Greek by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE)
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Hermann Reutter (1900 - 1985), "Aphrodite! Listreiche Tochter des Zeus!", op. 57 no. 5, published 1948 [ medium voice (female voice), viola, and piano ], from Fünf antike Oden nach Gedichten von Sappho, no. 5, Edition Schott 3674 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (John Glenn Paton) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: John Glenn Paton [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2017-08-03
Line count: 33
Word count: 192
Aphrodite! Cunning daughter of Zeus! I send my plea up to your gleaming throne: Do not strike my mind with agony and sorrow, oh Mistress. Rather, come quickly, as always when you heard my prayer coming from the depths and have fulfilled it and, leaving your father’s house, came to me on your golden chariot, which shining birds of prey drew over the twilit land with thousandfold whirring of wings, away through the radiant dome of the heavens. Nimbly they descended toward me. But you, blessed one, with a smile on your unchanging, blooming face, asked me what I was suffering again, why I might again be calling to you? “Whom then,” you asked, “whom then should I forcibly persuade into the net of your love again? Who, oh Sappho, has done you injustice? Understand that the one who flees from you today will soon be chasing after you– that the one who does not love, will love you soon, putting up resistance in vain .” That’s what you said. – Come to me now again! Brighten the shadows on my heart, end, as I so desire, my confused distress, and stand at my side, ready to aid me in battle –
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2017 by John Glenn Paton, (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 Rudolf Bach (1901 - 1957)
Based on:
- a text in Aeolic Greek by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE)
This text was added to the website: 2017-08-03
Line count: 29
Word count: 202