»Wie klag' ich's aus
Das Sterbegefühl,
Das auflösend
Durch die Glieder rinnt?

Wie sing' ich's aus
Das Werdegefühl,
Das erlösend
Dich, o Geist, anweht?«

[Es klagt', es]1 sang
Vernichtungsbang,
Verklärungsfroh,
Bis das Leben floh.

Das [ist]2 des Schwanen Gesang!

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Gedichte von Johann Senn. Innsbruck, in der Wagner'schen Buchhandlung. 1838, page 15

Note: Schubert received Senn's poem in handwritten form. Senn issued it later in the book mentioned above, with the footnote In Musik gesetzt von Fr. Schubert.

¹ Schubert: "Er klagt', er"
² Schubert: "bedeutet"

Text Authorship:

• by Johann Chrysostomos Senn (1795 - 1857), "Schwanenlied" [author's text checked 2 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 Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Schwanengesang", op. 23 (Vier Lieder) no. 3, D 744 (1822?), published 1823 [ voice, piano ], Sauer & Leidesdorf, VN 367, Wien [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Aleksi Reunanen) , "Joutsenlaulu", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Chant du cygne", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Richard Morris , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 13
Word count: 39