English translations of Gedichte von Goethe: III, opus 55

by Václav Jan Křtitel Tomášek (1774 - 1850)

1. An die Entfernte  [sung text not yet checked]
by Václav Jan Křtitel Tomášek (1774 - 1850), "An die Entfernte", op. 55 (Gedichte von Goethe: III) no. 1 (1815?)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
So hab ich wirklich dich verloren,
Bist du, o [Schöne]1, mir entflohn?
Noch [klingt]2 in den gewohnten Ohren
Ein jedes Wort, ein jeder Ton.

So wie des Wandrers Blick am Morgen
Vergebens in die Lüfte dringt,
[Wenn]3, in dem blauen Raum verborgen,
Hoch über ihm die Lerche singt:

So dringet ängstlich hin und wieder
Durch Feld und [Busch und Wald]4 mein Blick;
Dich rufen alle meine Lieder;
O komm, Geliebte, mir zurück!

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Confirmed with Goethe's Werke, Vollständige Ausgabe letzter Hand, Erster Band, Stuttgart und Tübingen, in der J.G.Cottaschen Buchhandlung, 1827, page 67; and with Goethe's Schriften, Achter Band, Leipzig, bey Georg Joachim Göschen, 1789, page 117.

1 Berger: "Teure"
2 Hensel: "tönt"
3 Schubert (Neue Gesamtausgabe): "Wann"
4 Hensel: "Wald und Busch"

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
1. To the distant one
Language: English 
So have I truly lost you?
Have you, o fair one, fled from me?
Yet still I can hear in my accustomed ears 
Every word, every tone of your voice.

Just as the wanderer's gaze in the morning
Searchingly pierces the heavens in vain
When, concealed in the blue expanse
High above, the lark sings to him:

So does my gaze anxiously search here and there,
Through field and bush and forest,
Singing to you through all my songs,
O come, my darling, back to me!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust

    Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:

    Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
    from the LiederNet Archive

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.


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Line count: 12
Word count: 86

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2. Die Spinnerin  [sung text not yet checked]
by Václav Jan Křtitel Tomášek (1774 - 1850), "Die Spinnerin", op. 55 (Gedichte von Goethe: III) no. 2 (1815?)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Als ich still und ruhig spann,
Ohne nur zu stocken,
Trat ein schöner junger Mann
Nahe mir zum Rocken.

Lobte, was zu loben war,
Sollte das was schaden?
Mein dem Flachse gleiches Haar,
Und den gleichen Faden.

Ruhig war er nicht dabei
Ließ es nicht beim Alten;
Und der Faden riß entzwey,
Den ich lang' erhalten.

Und des Flachses Stein-Gewicht
Gab noch viele Zahlen;
Aber, ach ich konnte nicht
Mehr mit ihnen prahlen.

Als ich sie zum Weber trug
Fühlt' ich was sich regen,
Und mein armes Herze schlug
Mit geschwindern Schlägen.

Nun, beim heißen Sonnenstich,
Bring' ich's auf die Bleiche,
Und mit Mühe bück' ich mich
Nach dem nächsten Teiche.

Was ich in dem Kämmerlein
Still und fein gesponnen,
Kommt - wie kann es anders seyn? -
Endlich an die Sonnen.

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Confirmed with Goethe's Werke, Vollständige Ausgabe letzter Hand, Erster Band, Stuttgart und Tübingen, in der J.G.Cottaschen Buchhandlung, 1827, pages 202-203; and with Göthe's neue Schriften. Siebenter Band. Berlin. Bei Johann Friedrich Unger. 1800, pages 63-64.


by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
2. The spinner
Language: English 
As I still und calmly spun,
Without even stopping,
A handsome young man
Approached me at my distaff.

He praised me, as praise was due;
Could that do any harm?
On my flaxen hair, matching [the thread],
And on the flaxen thread.

But he wasn’t content with that,
And wouldn’t let well enough alone;
And the thread snapped into,
Which I had been working on for a long time.

And the flax’s stone-weight
Produced many more threads;
But, alas! I could no longer
Boast about them.

When I took them to the weaver,
I felt something stir,
And my poor heart beat
With a quicker pulse.

Now, in the scorching sun,
I bring out my work to bleach it,
And in pain, I bend myself
Over the nearest pool.

What I, in my little room,
Spun so quietly and finely,
Will see - how can it be otherwise? -
Finally the light of day.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura Prichard, (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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3. Am Flusse  [sung text not yet checked]
by Václav Jan Křtitel Tomášek (1774 - 1850), "Am Flusse", op. 55 (Gedichte von Goethe: III) no. 3 (1815?)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Verfließet, vielgeliebte Lieder,
Zum Meere der Vergessenheit!
Kein [Knabe]1 sing' entzückt euch wieder,
Kein [Mädchen]2 in der Blütenzeit.

Ihr sanget nur [von]3 meiner Lieben;
Nun spricht sie meiner Treue Hohn.
Ihr wart ins Wasser eingeschrieben;
So fließt denn auch mit ihm davon.

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Confirmed with Goethe's Werke, Vollständige Ausgabe letzter Hand, Erster Band, Stuttgart und Tübingen, in der J.G.Cottaschen Buchhandlung, 1827, page 68, and with Musen-Almanach für das Jahr 1799, herausgegeben von Schiller. Tübingen, in der J.G.Cottaischen Buchhandlung, page 231.

First published 1799 in Schiller's Musen-Almanach with the title "An meine Lieder" and with "Justus Amman" as the author's name.

1 Goethe's first edition: "Mädchen"
2 Goethe's first edition: "Jüngling"
3 Goethe's first edition: "zu"

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
3. By the river
Language: English 
Flow away, well-loved songs,
To the ocean of forgetfulness!
No lad will delightedly sing you again,
Nor any maiden in the time of blossoms.

You sang only of my love;
Now she speaks scornfully of my faith.
You were written in water;
So flow then with water away.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust

    Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:

    Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
    from the LiederNet Archive

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.


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This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 48

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4. Mit einem gemalten Band
 (Sung text)
by Václav Jan Křtitel Tomášek (1774 - 1850), "Mit einem gemalten Band", op. 55 (Gedichte von Goethe: III) no. 4 (1815?) [ voice and piano ], confirmed with a CD booklet
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Kleine Blumen, kleine Blätter
Streuen mir mit leichter Hand
Gute, junge Frühlings-Götter
Tändelnd auf ein luftig Band.

Zephir, nimm's auf deine Flügel,
Schling's um meiner Liebsten Kleid;
Und so tritt sie vor den Spiegel
All in ihrer Munterkeit.

Sieht mit Rosen sich umgeben,
Selbst wie eine Rose jung.
Einen Blick, geliebtes Leben!
Und ich bin belohnt genung.

Fühle, was dies Herz empfindet,
Reiche frei mir deine Hand,
Und das Band, das uns verbindet,
Sei kein schwaches Rosenband!

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by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
4. With a painted ribbon
Language: English 
 Small flowers, small leaves
 are strewn for me with a light hand
 by good, young gods of Spring
 toying with an airy ribbon.
 
 Zephyr, put it on your wing,
 loop it around my sweetheart's dress;
 and so she'll step in front of the mirror
 in all her merriment.
 
 She will see herself surrounded by roses,
 herself like a young rose;
 one glance, beloved life!
 and I will have reward enough.
 
 Feel what this heart feels!
 freely reach me your hand,
 and let this ribbon that binds us
 be no weak ribbon of roses.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust

    Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:

    Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
    from the LiederNet Archive

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.


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Translation of title "Mit einem gemalten Band" = "With a painted ribbon"


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 93

Translation © by Emily Ezust
5. Die Nacht
 (Sung text)
by Václav Jan Křtitel Tomášek (1774 - 1850), "Die Nacht", op. 55 (Gedichte von Goethe: III) no. 5 (1815?), stanzas 1-4,7-8
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Singet nicht in Trauertönen
Von der Einsamkeit der Nacht.
Nein, sie ist, o holde Schönen,
Zur Geselligkeit gemacht.

Wie das Weib dem Mann gegeben
Als die schönste Hälfte war,
Ist die Nacht das halbe Leben
Und die schönste Hälfte zwar.

Könnt ihr euch des Tages freuen,
Der nur Freuden unterbricht?
Er ist gut, sich zu zerstreuen;
Zu was anderm taugt er nicht.

Aber wenn in nächt'ger Stunde
Süsser Lampe Dämmrung fließt,
Und vom Mund zum nahen Munde
Scherz und Liebe sich ergießt;

 ... 

Mit wie leichtem Herzensregen
Horchet ihr der Glocke nicht,
Die mit zwölf bedächtgen Schlägen
Ruh und Sicherheit verspricht.

Darum an dem langen Tage,
Merke dir es, liebe Brust;
Jeder Tag hat seine Plage,
Und die Nacht hat ihre Lust.

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by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
5. Do not sing in mournful tones
Language: English 
 Do not sing in mournful tones
 of the loneliness of Night.
 No; it was, o tender, fair ones,
 made for companionship.

 As woman was given to man
 to be his better half,
 so is Night half of life,
 and certainly the better half.

 Can you delight in the day,
 which only interrupts joy?
 It is good for distraction, 
 but of use for nothing else.

 But when, in that nocturnal hour,
 the sweet lamps' twilight flows,
 and from mouth to neighboring mouth
 pour jests and love;

[ ... ]

 with such a lightly stirring heart
 do you not listen to the bell,
 that, with twelve measured strokes
 promises repose and safety?

 Thus, in the long day,
 mark it well, dear heart:
 every day has its troubles,
 and the night has its pleasure.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust

    Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:

    Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
    from the LiederNet Archive

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.


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This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 175

Translation © by Emily Ezust