Dichter lieben nicht zu schweigen, Wollen sich der Menge zeigen; Lob und Tadel muß ja seyn! Niemand beichtet gern in Prosa; Doch vertraun wir oft sub Rosa In der Musen stillem Hain. Was ich irrte, was ich strebte, Was ich litt und was ich lebte, Sind hier Blumen nur im Strauß; Und das Alter wie die Jugend, Und der Fehler wie die Tugend Nimmt sich gut in Liedern aus.
R. Bischof sets stanza 2
Confirmed with Goethe's Poetische und Prosaische Werke in zwei Bänden, Des Ersten Bandes Erste Abtheilung, Stuttgart und Tübingen: Verlag der J.G. Cotta'schen Buchhandlung, 1836, page 2.
Text Authorship:
- by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), "An die Günstigen" [author's text checked 2 times 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 Rainer Bischof , "An die Günstigen", 1998, stanza 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Otto Klemperer (1885 - 1973), "An die Günstigen" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Johannes Martin Kränzle (b. 1962), "An die Günstigen", 2020 [ soprano and piano ], from Drei Dichter-Lieder, no. 1, confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Heinrich Panofka (1807 - 1887), "An die Günstigen ", op. 1 no. 1 [ voice and piano ], from Drei Lieder von Goethe für eine Singstimme mit Clavier-Begleitung, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Edgar Alfred Bowring) , "To the Kind Reader"
- ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "To the favoured ones", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2008-04-04
Line count: 12
Word count: 69
No one talks more than a Poet; Fain he’d have the people know it, Praise or blame he ever loves; None in prose confess an error, Yet we do so, void of terror, In the Muses’ silent groves. What I err’d in, what corrected, What I suffer’d, what effected, To this wreath as flow’rs belong; For the agèd, and the youthful, And the vicious, and the truthful, All are fair when view’d in song.
Text Authorship:
- by Edgar Alfred Bowring (1826 - 1911), "To the Kind Reader" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), "An die Günstigen"
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this page: Harry Joelson
This text was added to the website: 2024-05-10
Line count: 12
Word count: 74