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Wenn ich mir in stiller Seele Singe leise Lieder vor: Wie ich fühle, daß sie fehle, Die ich einzig [auserkohr]1; Möcht' ich hoffen, daß sie sänge, Was ich ihr so gern vertraut; Ach! aus dieser Brust und Enge Drängen frohe Lieder laut.
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotesConfirmed with Goethe's poetische und prosaische Werke, Erster Band, Verlag der J. G. Cotta'schen Buchhandlung, Stuttgart, 1836, page 200.
Note (provided by Lau Kanen): Goethe dedicated ‘Wenn ich mir in stiller Seele’ to Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel in 1827.
1 Hensel: "mir erkohr"Text Authorship:
- by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), no title [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 Fanny Hensel (1805 - 1847), "Wenn ich mir in stiller Seele", 1828, published 1999 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Oscar Niemann (1860 - 1893), "An die Entfernte", op. 3 no. 4, published 1904 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig; Senf [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ernst Otto Nodnagel (1870 - 1909), "An die Entfernte", op. 23 no. 1, published 1900 [ voice and piano ], from Scheidegruss. Vier lyrische Recitative für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung, no. 1, Leipzig, Schuberth & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "When, in my quiet soul", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2008-06-25
Line count: 8
Word count: 43
When, in my quiet soul, I sing soft songs to myself, How I feel that she is missing - She, the only one whom I have chosen. If I could hope that she would sing What I have so gladly entrusted to her, Ah! From this breast, this constriction, Joyous songs would burst forth loudly.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2008 by Sharon Krebs, (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.
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Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), no title
This text was added to the website: 2008-06-25
Line count: 8
Word count: 54