Ah dearest! when I am with you | Ah dearest! when I am with you

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by Rudolf Hirsch (1816 - 1872)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Ach Liebste! wenn ich bei Dir bin

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Ach Liebste! wenn ich bei Dir bin,
Ich mein', ich [hätt']¹ hab' der Lerche Sinn,
Die trillernd, voller Fröhlichkeit
In alle Welt die Lieder streut.

Doch, Liebste, wenn ich von Dir geh',
Da fühl' ich gleich ein tiefes Weh',
Und werde wie die Nachtigall,
Die [einsam]² singt mit trübem Schall.--

O daß ich nie wie Nachtigall
[Die]³ Lieder säng' mit trübem Schall
Und daß ich stets nur Lerche wär,
Was wollte da mein Herz noch mehr?!

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with R. Hirsch, Irrgarten der Liebe, Wien: Verlag vom Carl Gerold, 1850, page 55.

¹ Kéler: "hab' "
² Kéler (in published version): "meistens"
³ Kéler: "Dir"

Text Authorship:

by Rudolf Hirsch (1816 - 1872), no title, appears in Irrgarten der Liebe, no. 26 [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 Béla Kéler (1820 - 1882), "Ach Liebste, wenn ich bei dir bin", op. 103, published 1877 [ voice and piano ], Berlin, Bote & Bock; before it was published this setting was part of the Huldigung der Tonsetzer Wiens an Ihre Majestät die allerdurchlauchtigste Frau Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie, Kaiserin von Österreich, Königin von Ungarn und Böhmen etc. Überreicht von der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde des österreichischen Kaiserstaates 1854 held in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Ah dearest! when I am with you", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor] , Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website: 2021-08-17
Line count: 12
Word count: 79

Ah dearest! when I am with you

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Ah dearest! when I am with you,
I believe I have the spirit of a lark,
Which trilling, full of happiness,
Strews songs into all the world.

But, dearest, when I depart from you,
I immediately feel a deep pain,
And become like the nightingale,
Which [sings solitarily]¹ with a melancholy sound. --

Oh that I would never like the nightingale
Sing [songs]² with a melancholy sound
And that I were always only a lark,
What more could my heart desire then?!

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Kéler (in published version): "usually sings"
² Kéler: "to you"

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2025 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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Rudolf Hirsch (1816 - 1872), no title, appears in Irrgarten der Liebe, no. 26
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-03-15
Line count: 12
Word count: 83