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Eins möcht' ich sein! Auf Deines Lebens dunkler [Fluth]1 Der Strahl, der zitternd auf ihr ruht, Vom Mondenschein! Eins möcht' ich sein! In Deines Lebens Wüstensand Der Born, an dessen Schattenrand Du [schlummerst]2 ein! Eins möcht' ich sein! Wenn Alles Dir entflieht wie Traum, Das Blatt, das Dir am Lebensbaum Noch grünt allein! Eins möcht' ich sein! Wenn todte Stille Dich umringt, Das Vöglein, das Dir Hoffnung singt, In's Herz hinein! O laß [mich's]3 sein! Im Jugendflor und grauem Haar. [Laß Eins]4 mich bleiben immerdar: Dein, ewig Dein.
T. Leschetizky sets stanzas 1, 2, 4, 5
Confirmed with Friedrich Halm's (Eligius Freiherrn von Münch-Bellinghausen) Werke, Siebenter Band, Neue Gedichte, Wien: Druck und Verlag von Carl Gerold's Sohn, 1864, pages 42-43.
1 typo in the Leschetizky score: "Fluth" is not capitalized"
2 typo in the Leschetizky score: "schlummerst" is misspelled as "schlumerst"
3 Leschetizky: "mich"
4 Leschetizky: "Eins lass"
Text Authorship:
- by Eligius Franz Joseph, Freiherr von Münch-Bellinghausen (1806 - 1871), as Friedrich Halm, "Eins möcht' ich sein!", appears in Neue Gedichte, in Lieder der Liebe, no. 2 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Theodor Leschetizky (1830 - 1915), "Eins möcht ich sein", op. 30 (Drei Lieder von F. Halm für eine tiefe Stimme) no. 1, published 1884, stanzas 1,2,4,5 [ low voice and piano ], Wien: bey Gustav Levy [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "One thing I wish to be", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2014-04-15
Line count: 20
Word count: 93
One thing I wish to be! Upon the dark floodwaters of your life The beam that tremblingly rests upon them, [The beam] of moonlight! One thing I wish to be! In the desert sands of your life, The water spring by whose shady borders You fall into slumber! One thing I wish to be! When everything flees from you like a dream, The single leaf that upon your tree of life Alone still remains green! One thing I wish to be! When deathly silence surrounds you, The bird that sings hope for you [Sings hope] into your heart! Oh let me be it! In the bloom of youth and in [the days] of grey locks. Let me remain this one thing forevermore: Yours, eternally yours.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2014 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.
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Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Eligius Franz Joseph, Freiherr von Münch-Bellinghausen (1806 - 1871), as Friedrich Halm, "Eins möcht' ich sein!", appears in Neue Gedichte, in Lieder der Liebe, no. 2
This text was added to the website: 2014-04-15
Line count: 20
Word count: 126