Knight Schaumburg (Tombstone by Riemenschneider) | Does the farewell from life

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by Ricarda Octavia Huch (1864 - 1947)

Translation © by John Glenn Paton

Ritter Schaumburg (Grabstein von Riemenschneider)

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Dunkelt der Abschied des Lebens,
Ritter, dein edles Gesicht
Oder die Sehnsucht zum Tod?
Schien, was das Glück dir bot,
Schal, die verhaßte Pflicht
Und all Kämpfe vergebens?

Du entsagtest dem Sieg,
Du warst andern ein Hort,
Glühend in gläubigem Feuer.
Aber der Himmel schwieg,
Und es verlosch, was dir teuer:
Einsamkeit hier und dort.

Löste das Rätsel auch
Schuldlos ertragener Pein,
Sinnloser Erdentage
Drüben ein göttlicher Hauch,
Hier erstarrte zu Stein
Deine verhaltene Klage.

Text Authorship:

by Ricarda Octavia Huch (1864 - 1947) [author's text not yet checked 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 Hermann Reutter (1900 - 1985), "Ritter Schaumburg (Grabstein von Riemenschneider)", 1971 [voice and piano], from 9 Lieder, no. 4. [
text verified 1 time
]

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

ENG English (John Glenn Paton) , title 1: "Knight Schaumburg (Tombstone by Riemenschneider)", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , title unknown, copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: John Glenn Paton [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2009-07-20
Line count: 18
Word count: 75

Knight Schaumburg (Tombstone by Riemenschneider)

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Does the farewell from life,
sir, darken your noble face,
or is it longing for death?
Did that which fortune offered you
seem stale, did the hated duty
and all the battles seem in vain?

You renounced victory,
to others you were their protector,
glowing with the fire of faith.
But Heaven was silent,
and what you loved was obliterated:
aloneness here and above.

Even if the riddle
of pain innocently borne,
of purposeless days on earth,
is solved by a divine whisper on high,
here, frozen in stone,
is your repressed grievance.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2009 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 Ricarda Octavia Huch (1864 - 1947)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2009-07-20
Line count: 18
Word count: 93