Sternklare Nacht | Meine Seele, kannst du nicht beten?

by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962)

Sternklare Nacht

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG ENG FRE

Meine Seele, kannst du nicht beten?
Sieh, wie die Sterne wunderbar 
Aus der gewölbten Bläue treten.
Und droben leuchten schön und klar.

Das sind die Lichter deren Glänzen
Dich ehemals so tief entzückt.
Und die du mit den bunten Kränzen
Verliebter Lieder hast geschmückt.

Ich fühle wohl wie du bezwungen
Vor der gestirnten Nacht dich neigst --
Sind deine Lieder alle versungen,
O meine Seele, daß du schweigst?

Available sung texts: ← What is this?

• V. Patrick

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View text with all available footnotes

Confirmed with Hermann Hesse, Sämtliche Werke, herausgegeben von Volker Michels, Band 10 Die Gedichte, bearbeitet von Peter Huber, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2002, page 122.

Note: some sources have a typo in stanza 3, line 2 : "neigst" erroneously becomes "zeigst".

Text Authorship:

by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962), "Sternklare Nacht", written 1901 [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 Reinhold Laquai (1894 - 1957), "Sternklare Nacht", published 1956?, from Hesse-Lieder für mittlere Stimme, Heft 1, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Hans-Joachim Marx , "Sternklare Nacht", <<1952 [ soprano and orchestra ], from Sieben Orchesterlieder für Sopran nach Gedichten von Hermann Hesse, no. 1, lost? [sung text checked 1 time]
by V. D. Patrick , "Sternklare Nacht ", <<1956 [ voice and piano ], from Vier Lieder, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor] , Roland Kupper

This text was added to the website: 2008-11-17
Line count: 12
Word count: 67