Five Love Songs by Ricarda Huch

Song Cycle by Viktor Ullmann (1898 - 1944)

View original-language texts alone: Fünf Liebeslieder von Richarda Huch

1. Wo hast du all die Schönheit hergenommen  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Wo hast du all die Schönheit hergenommen,
Du Liebesangesicht, du Wohlgestalt! 
Um dich ist alle Welt zu kurz gekommen. 
Weil du die Jugend hast, wird alles alt, 
Weil du das Leben hast, muß alles sterben,
Weil du die Kraft hast, ist die Welt kein Hort,
Weil du vollkommen bist, ist sie ein Scherben,
Weil du der Himmel bist, gibt's keinen dort!

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

Confirmed with Ricarda Huch, Liebesgedichte, Insel-Verlag zu Leipzig, Druck der Spamerschen Buchdruckerei, Leipzig, 1907, page 5.


by Ricarda Octavia Huch (1864 - 1947)
1. Where did you gather up all your beauty
Language: English 
Where did you gather up all your beauty,
you face of love, you vision of well-being!
Compared to you, the whole world falls short.
Because you have youth, all else is old,
because you have life, all else must die,
because you have power, the world is not my refuge,
because you are complete, it is a fragment,
because you are Heaven, there is none up there!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2017 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: 

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view

Translation of title "Wo hast du all die Schönheit hergenommen" = "Where did you gather up all your beauty"


This text was added to the website: 2017-01-04
Line count: 8
Word count: 67

Translation © by John Glenn Paton
2. Am Klavier
 (Sung text)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Die laß mich hören, alte Töne,
Die duften Erinnerungen:
Vergangne Zeit, traurige, schöne,
Silbern Meer, summende Heide,
Rast und Traum auf ewigen Steinen,
Vom Himmel umschlungen
Wir beide,
Fülle des Glücks, verhaltenes Weinen.

Dein Küsse sind so:
Süß wie einst, süßer als einst.
Was du denkst, was du hoffst, was du weinst,
Was in Jahren entfloh,
Ungeküßter Küsse Glut,
Ungestillter Sehnsucht Drang,
Götterkraft, Jugendblut,
Liebe das Leben lang
Überglüht mich heiß,
Überfließt mich ganz,
Wie von den Bergen Weiß
Des Mondes fließt,
Fern ferner Sonnenglanz,
Durch Nacht versüßt.

Text Authorship:

Go to the general single-text view

Confirmed with Ricarda Huch, Liebesgedichte, Wiesbaden: Insel-Verlag, 1952, page 49.


by Ricarda Octavia Huch (1864 - 1947)
2. At the piano
Language: English 
Those let me hear, old sounds
That bring forth the scent of memories:
Past times, sad, beautiful,
Silvery sea, humming heath,
Rest and dream upon eternal rocks,
Embraced by heaven
We two,
Plenitude of happiness, suppressed weeping.

Your kisses are thus:
Sweet as formerly, sweeter than formerly.
What you think, what you hope, what you weep,
What has flown over the years,
The passion of unkissed kisses,
The compulsion of unassuaged yearning,
God-like power, young blood,
Life-long love
Pours upon me with fervour,
Flows over me utterly,
As from the mountains flows
The white of the moon,
Far, faraway radiance of the sun,
Sweetened by night.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2023 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: 

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2023-01-19
Line count: 22
Word count: 106

Translation © by Sharon Krebs
3. Sturmlied
 (Sung text)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
O Brausen des Meers und Stimme des Sturms
Und Irren im Nebelschwarm!
In Hafens Ruhe, im Schutze des Turms,
Wie eng und arm.

Ich will kein Kissen mir unters Haupt,
Kein Schreiten auf Teppichen weich;
Hat mir der Sturm auch die Segel geraubt,
Da war ich reich!

O herrliche Fahrt im Windeshauch
Hinauf und hinab und zurück!
Nur kämpfend, und unterlieg ich auch,
Ist Leben Glück.

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

Confirmed with Ricarda Huch, Liebesgedichte, Insel-Verlag zu Leipzig, Druck der Spamerschen Buchdruckerei, Leipzig, 1907, page 16.


by Ricarda Octavia Huch (1864 - 1947)
3. Storm song
Language: English 
Oh roaring of the sea and voice of the storm
And straying in the swarm of fog!
In the peace of the harbour, in the protection of the tower,
How narrow and needy.

I want no pillow under my head,
No striding upon soft carpets;
Even if the storm stole my sails,
There I was rich!

Oh glorious ride in the breath of the wind
Upward and downward and back!
Only while fighting, and though I may be vanquished,
Is life happy.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2023 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: 

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2023-01-18
Line count: 12
Word count: 82

Translation © by Sharon Krebs
4. Wenn je ein Schönes mir zu bilden glückte
 (Sung text)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Wenn je ein Schönes mir zu bilden glückte,
Wars, weil ich hingegeben deinem Wesen,
Mit meiner Seele mich in dich verzückte,

Und, wie der Winzer nach dem Traubenlesen
Erglüht und schwankt in Purpurgeist gebadet,
Wie Kranke, die nach tiefem Schlaf genesen,

Wie ein Geliebter, den ein Gott sich ladet,
Ihm teilt an goldnem Tisch des Nektars Blüte, --
Zurück mir kam mit Harmonie begnadet,
Lebendigen Feuers Wogen im Gemüte.

Text Authorship:

Go to the general single-text view

by Ricarda Octavia Huch (1864 - 1947)
4. If ever I was fortunate enough to create something beautiful
Language: English 
If ever I was fortunate enough to create something beautiful,
It was because I surrendered myself to your being,
Because I enraptured myself in you with my soul,

And, like the vintner after harvesting the grapes
Comes aglow and totters, bathed in crimson spirit,
Like the sick who, after deep sleep, become well,

Like a beloved, whom a god invites,
[And] shares with him the blossom of nectar at a golden table,
There returned to me, blessed with harmony, 
The surging of living fire in my spirit.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2023 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: 

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2023-01-18
Line count: 10
Word count: 87

Translation © by Sharon Krebs
5. O schöne Hand, Kelch, dessen Duft Musik
 (Sung text)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
O schöne Hand, Kelch, dessen Duft Musik,
Wie Töne schweben geht der, den du führst,
Melodisch wird der Stein, den du berührst,
Wenn sie dich einhüllt, wird die Luft Musik.

Du tust dich auf, um Wohllaut zu verschwenden,
Der ordnet, was Gewalt und Wahn verwirrten,
Und Seelen, die auf Erden sich verirrten,
Hinüberlockt, wo Wunsch und Zweifel enden.

O Hand, Gebieterin der Töne, bleib 
Auf diesem Herzen ruhen, das ruhlos schwingt,
So wandelst du in Frieden sein Verlangen.

Dämonische, berühre diesen Leib,
Er bebt wie Saiten, wird ein Meer und klingt
Und rauscht empor, die Sonne zu empfangen.

Text Authorship:

Go to the general single-text view

by Ricarda Octavia Huch (1864 - 1947)
5. Oh beautiful hand, chalice, whose scent is music
Language: English 
Oh beautiful hand, chalice, whose scent is music,
As tones waft, walks he whom you lead[;]
The stone that you touch becomes melodious,
When it envelops you, the very air becomes music.

You open to lavish harmony that orders
That which has been confused by violence and madness,
And entices souls that became lost on earth 
To the place where wishes and doubts come to an end.

Oh hand, ruler of tones,
Remain resting upon this heart that vibrates restlessly,
Thus shall you transform its yearning into peace.

Demonic one, touch this body,
It trembles like strings, becomes an ocean and sounds
And rushes upward to receive the sun.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2023 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: 

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2023-01-27
Line count: 14
Word count: 109

Translation © by Sharon Krebs