In the quiet night the sultaness keeps watch

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by Ignaz Hub (1810 - 1880)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Die Sultanin

(Sung text for setting by E. Schmezer)

See original

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

  In stiller Nacht die Sultanin wacht, 
Die Odalisken träumen. 
Sie faßt der Sehnsucht glühende Macht:
Wo mag der Geliebte säumen? 
Es flüstern die Sykomoren: 
  Verloren! verloren!

  Voll süßer Narden schwimmt die Luft, 
Die Blumen kosen und küssen. 
Die Liebe lockt, die Liebe ruft, 
Sie kann ihn nicht grüßen und küssen.
 ... 

  Die Liebe singt, die Liebe klingt, 
In Flammen wirbeln die Sterne.
Ihr Busen woget, das Herz ihr springt springt...
Ersehnter, wo hält dich die Ferne?
Es flüstern die Sykomoren: 
  Verloren! verloren!

  Was rauschet, horch! was hallt für ein Ton?
Was krächzen die Meeres-Raben?
An einer Zeder des Libanon
Dort liegt dein Geliebter begraben!
Es flüstern die Sykomoren!
  Verloren! verloren!

Composition:

Elise Schmezer

Text Authorship:

by Ignaz Hub (1810 - 1880), no title, appears in Türkische Klänge , no. 6, first published 1838

See other settings of this text.

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

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2011-07-13
Line count: 24
Word count: 119

The sultaness

(Sung text translation for setting by E. Schmezer)

See original

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

  In the quiet night the sultaness keeps watch,
The odalisques are dreaming.
She is caught in the flaming might of yearning:
Where might my beloved be tarrying?
The sycamores whisper:
  He is lost! lost!

  The air is awash with sweet perfumes,
The flowers are caressing and kissing.
Love entices, love calls,
She cannot greet or kiss him.
 ... 

  Love sings, love resounds, 
The stars whirl in flames.
Her bosom heaves, her heart leaps . . . 
Yearned-for one, where in the distance are you being kept from me? 
The sycamores whisper:
  He is lost! lost!

  What is rustling, hark! what sound is echoing?
What are the ravens of the sea cawing?
Beside a cedar bordering Mount Lebanon,
There your beloved lies buried!
The sycamores whisper!
  He is lost! lost!

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2021 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 Ignaz Hub (1810 - 1880), no title, appears in Türkische Klänge , no. 6, first published 1838
- Go to the text page.

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This text was added to the website: 2021-05-12
Line count: 24
Word count: 142