Last happiness | She lay there so pale, she lay there so ill

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by Karl Christian Tenner (1791 - 1866)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Letztes Glück

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

 Sie lag so blaß, sie lag so krank, 
Ich hob sie zitternd auf; 
Sie neigt' an meine Brust ihr Haupt, 
Ich weinte still darauf. 

Sie drückte lächelnd mir die Hand, 
Sie sah so treu mich an; 
Sie küßte sanft die Thräne weg, 
Die mir vom Auge rann.  

Es war ihr letzter Händedruck, 
Es war ihr letzter Blick, 
Es war ihr letzter Liebeskuß  --  
Es war mein letztes Glück.

Confirmed with Herzensklänge: Dichter-Album für deutsche Frauen und Jungfrauen, zweite Auflage, ed. by Arnold Perls, Leipzig: C. A. Koch's Verlag, 1878, page 110; also confirmed with a literary review of Gedichte von Karl Christian Tenner, Darmstadt: Zernin, 1871, published in Blätter für literarische Unterhaltung; and confirmed with Karl Christian Tenner, Gedichte, Darmstadt: Eduard Zernin, 1870, page 54. Appears in Natur und Liebe.

Text Authorship:

by Karl Christian Tenner (1791 - 1866), "Letztes Glück", appears in Gedichte, in Natur und Liebe, first published <<1871 [author's text checked 3 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 Franciscus Johannes van der Heijden (b. 1848), "Letztes Glück", op. 22 (Fünf Lieder) no. 2, published 1883 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Rieter-Biedermann [sung text not yet checked]
by Carl Kleemann , "Letztes Glück", op. 7 (Vier Lieder für tiefe Stimme) no. 2, published 1885 [ voice and piano ], Berlin: Simrock [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Last happiness", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Bertram Kottmann , Melanie Trumbull

This text was added to the website: 2020-02-02
Line count: 12
Word count: 68

Last happiness

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

She lay there so pale, she lay there so ill,
Trembling, I lifted her;
She inclined her head upon my breast,
I wept over it silently.

Smiling, she pressed my hand,
She looked at me so devotedly;
Softly she kissed away the tears
That ran from my eyes.

It was the last time she pressed my hand,
It was the last time she gazed at me,
It was her last loving kiss --
It was my last happiness.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2020 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 Karl Christian Tenner (1791 - 1866), "Letztes Glück", appears in Gedichte, in Natur und Liebe, first published <<1871
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2020-09-27
Line count: 12
Word count: 77