The shadows | Friends whose crypts are already overgrown with moss!

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by Friedrich von Matthisson (1761 - 1831)

Translation © by Emily Ezust

Die Schatten

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT DUT ENG FRE

Freunde, deren Grüfte sich schon bemoosten!
[Wann]¹ der Vollmond über dem Walde dämmert,
Schweben eure Schatten empor vom stillen
Ufer der Lethe.

Seid mir, Unvergeßliche, froh gesegnet!
Du vor Allen, welcher im Buch' der Menschheit
Mir der Hieroglyphen so viel gedeutet,
Redlicher Bonnet!

Längst verschlürft im Strudel der Brandung wäre
Wohl mein Fahrzeug oder am Riff zerschmettert, 
Hättet ihr nicht, Genien gleich, im Sturme
Schirmend gewaltet.

Wiedersehn der Liebenden! wo der Heimath
Goldne Sterne leuchten, o du der armen
Psyche, die gebunden im Grabthal schmachtet, 
[Heiligste]² Sehnsucht!

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• F. Schubert

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Gedichte von Matthisson. Fünfte vermehrte Auflage. Zürich, bei Orell, Füssli und Compagnie. 1802, pages 64-65; and with Gedichte von Friedrich von Matthisson. Zweiter Theil. Tübingen, bei Cotta, 1811, page 103.

First published in Musen-Almanach für das Jahr 1799, herausgegeben von Schiller, Tübingen, in der J.G.Cottaischen Buchhandlung, page 143 (only stanza 1-3).

¹ Matthisson (1811 edition): "Wenn"
² Schubert: "Himmlische"

Text Authorship:

by Friedrich von Matthisson (1761 - 1831), "Die Schatten", written c1797, first published 1799 [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 Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Die Schatten", D 50 (1813), published 1894 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 89

The shadows

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Friends whose crypts are already overgrown with moss!
When the full moon shines over the wood,
your shadows float up
from the silent banks of Lethe.

Be happily blessed by me, unforgettable ones,
You above all, who, in the book of mankind
explained so many mysterious things to me,
honest Bonnet!

My vessel would long ago have been 
pulled into a whirlpool of surf
or shattered against a reef, 
had you not, like genies, 
provided a shield for me against the storm!

The farewells, farewells of lovers! --
Where the golden stars of home gleam,
O you, heavenly yearning 
of poor Psyche, 
who languishes, bound, in a valley grave!

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust
Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:
Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
from the LiederNet Archive
For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.
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Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Friedrich von Matthisson (1761 - 1831), "Die Schatten", written c1797, first published 1799
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 108