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Hast du nicht Liebe zugemessen Dem Leben jeder Kreatur? Warum bin ich allein vergessen, Auch meine Mutter du! du Natur? Wo lebte wohl in Forst und Hürde, Und wo in Luft und Meer, ein Tier, Das nimmermehr geliebet würde? -- Geliebt wird alles außer mir! Wenn gleich [in Hain und Wiesenmatten]1 Sich Baum und Staude, Moos und Kraut Durch Lieb' und Gegenliebe gatten; Vermählt sich mir doch keine Braut. Mir wächst vom süßesten der Triebe Nie Honigfrucht zur Lust heran. Denn ach! mir mangelt Gegenliebe, [Die Eine nur]2 gewähren kann.
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View text without footnotes1 Beethoven: "im Hain, auf Flur und Matten"; Agthe: "im Hain und Wiesenmatten"
2 Beethoven: "Die Eine, nur Eine"
Text Authorship:
- by Gottfried August Bürger (1747 - 1794), "Seufzer eines Ungeliebten", appears in Lyrische Gedichte, first published 1789 [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 Carl Christian Agthe (1762 - 1797), "Seufzer eines Ungeliebten", published 1782 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), "Seufzer eines Ungeliebten und Gegenliebe", WoO. 118 no. 1 (1794-5) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Wilhelm Ferdinand Halter (1750 - 1806), "Seufzer eines Ungeliebten", published 1782 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Johann Abraham Peter Schulz (1747 - 1800), "Seufzer eines Ungeliebten", published 1782, Berlin: Bey George Jakob Decker, Königl. Hofbuchdrucker [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Zuchten van een onbeminde", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Soupir d'un mal aimé", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Pilar Lirio
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 91
Have you not favored with love every creature's life? Why, however, am I forgotten as well as you, my mother, you, Nature? Where in bosk and lea and where in air and sea may dwell a beast, that nevermore was loved? All is loved, but me, truly all but me! Be it in groves, in fields and pastures that tree and bush and moss and herb find each other in love -- why will I not get married to a bride? The sweetest of all desires never sprouts a fruit for me. Alas, love is never returned to me, love, that only one can give.
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Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2007 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Bertram Kottmann. Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Gottfried August Bürger (1747 - 1794), "Seufzer eines Ungeliebten", appears in Lyrische Gedichte, first published 1789
This text was added to the website: 2007-12-03
Line count: 16
Word count: 104