English translation of Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt

by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), "Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt", op. 112, published 1815 [ chorus and orchestra ], cantata

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Tiefe Stille herrscht im Wasser,
Ohne Regung ruht das Meer,
Und bekümmert sieht der Schiffer
Glatte Fläche rings umher.
Keine Luft von keiner Seite!
Todesstille fürchterlich!
In der ungeheuern Weite
Reget keine Welle sich.

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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 73; with Göthe's neue Schriften. Siebenter Band. Berlin. Bei Johann Friedrich Unger. 1800, page 18; and with Musen-Almanach für das Jahr 1796. Herausgegeben von Schiller. Neustrelitz, bei dem Hofbuchhändler Michaelis, page 83.

Note: The poem's title in the first edition (Schiller's Musenalmanach 1796) is "Meeresstille", from the second edition on (1800) it is "Meeres Stille".


Research team for this page: Richard Morris , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor] 
Die Nebel zerreißen,
[Der Himmel ist]1 helle
Und Aeolus löset
Das ängstliche Band. 
Es säuseln die Winde,
Es rührt sich der Schiffer. 
Geschwinde! Geschwinde! 
Es theilt sich die Welle,
Es naht sich die Ferne,
Schon seh' ich das Land!

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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 73; with Göthe's neue Schriften. Siebenter Band. Berlin. Bei Johann Friedrich Unger. 1800, pages 18-19; and with Musen-Almanach für das Jahr 1796. Herausgegeben von Schiller. Neustrelitz, bei dem Hofbuchhändler Michaelis, page 83.

Note: Goethe's "Meeres Stille" and "Glückliche Fahrt" constitute a pair of poems belonging together.

1 First edition: "Auf einmal wirds"

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]
Author(s): Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
Deep stillness reigns on the water;
motionless, the sea rests,
and the sailor gazes about with alarm
at the smooth flatness all around.

No breeze from any side!
It is fearfully, deathly still!
In the enormous expanse
not one wave stirs.

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  • 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

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The mist is pulled aside,
The sky lights up,
And Aeolus undoes
The ties of fear.

There, the winds rustle,
There, the sailor moves on.

Hurry! Hurry!
The waves are breaking.
The distant becomes nearby,
Already, I see the land!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2005 by Karel Vereycken, (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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Translation © by Karel Vereycken, Emily Ezust