My heart, I wish to ask you

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Eligius Franz Joseph, Freiherr von Münch-Bellinghausen (1806 - 1871), as Friedrich Halm

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Mein Herz, ich will dich fragen

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Mein Herz, ich will dich fragen,
Was ist denn Liebe, sag'?--
"Zwei Seelen und ein Gedanke,
Zwei Herzen und ein Schlag!"
 
Und sprich: woher kommt Liebe?--
"Sie kommt, und sie ist da!"
Und sprich: wie schwindet Liebe?--
"Die war's nicht, der's geschah!"
 
Und was ist reine Liebe?--
"Die ihrer selbst vergißt!"
Und wann ist Lieb' am tiefsten?--
"Wenn sie am stillsten ist!"
 
Und wann ist Lieb' am reichsten?--
"Das ist sie, wenn sie gibt!"
Und sprich, wie redet Liebe?--
"Sie redet nicht, sie liebt!"

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• G. Lazarus • C. Loewe • A. Wallnöfer

About the headline (FAQ)

View text with all available footnotes

Confirmed with Gedichte von Friedrich Halm, Stuttgart und Tübingen: J.G. Cotta’scher Verlag, 1850, page 165

Text Authorship:

by Eligius Franz Joseph, Freiherr von Münch-Bellinghausen (1806 - 1871), as Friedrich Halm, no title [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Go to the general view

Research team for this page: Andrew Shackleton , Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor], Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website: 2005-07-28
Line count: 16
Word count: 86

My heart, I wish to ask you

NOTE: the footnotes have been removed from this text; return to general view

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

My heart, I wish to ask you,
What, then, is love, tell me?--
"Two souls and a single thought,
Two hearts and a single heartbeat!"
 
And tell me: where does love come from?--
"It comes and it is there!"
And tell me: how does love vanish?--
"It was not love if that happened!"
 
And what is pure love? --
"That which forgets itself!"
And when is love at its most profound?--
"When it is at its quietest!"
 
And when is love at its richest?--
"Love is that when it gives!"
And say, how does love speak?--
"It does not speak, it loves!"

About the headline (FAQ)

View text with all available footnotes

Translated titles:
"Mein Herz ich will dich fragen" = "My heart, I wish to ask you"
"Was ist denn Liebe" = "What, then, is love"
"Frage" = "Question"

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2016 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 Eligius Franz Joseph, Freiherr von Münch-Bellinghausen (1806 - 1871), as Friedrich Halm, no title
- Go to the text page.

Go to the general view

This text was added to the website: 2016-09-29
Line count: 16
Word count: 102