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Lehnst du deine bleichgehärmte Wange Immer noch an diesen Aschenkrug? Weinend um den Todten, den schon lange Zu der Seraphim Triumphgesange Der Vollendung Flügel trug? Siehst du Gottes Sternenschrift dort flimmern, Die der bangen Schwermuth Trost verheißt? Heller wird der Glaube [nun dir]1 schimmern, Daß hoch über seiner Hülle Trümmern Walle des Geliebten Geist! Wohl, o wohl dem liebenden Gefährten Deiner Sehnsucht, er ist ewig dein! Wiedersehn, im Lande der Verklärten, Wirst du, Dulderin, den Langentbehrten, Und wie er unsterblich seyn!
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Gedichte von Friedrich von Matthisson. Erster Theil. Tübingen, bei Cotta, 1811, page 90, and with Friedrich von Matthisson, Gedichte, fifteenth edition, Zurich: Orell, Fuessli & Co., 1851, page 63.
First published in Musen-Almanach für 1786, herausgegeben von Voß und Goeking, Hamburg, bey Carl Ernst Bohn, pages 24-25, with the title "Die Unsterblichkeit", subtitle "An Elisa". This first edition has an additional (third) stanza which was left out in later editions.
1 Schubert: "dir nun"Text Authorship:
- by Friedrich von Matthisson (1761 - 1831), "Trost an Elisa", written 1783, appears in Wanderjahre in Deutschland (1784-1787), first published 1786 [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 Ludwig Abeille (1761 - 1838), "Trost, an Elisa" [ voice and piano ], from Lieder und Elegien von F. v. Matthisson für eine Singstimme mit Pianoforte, no. 4, Leipzig, Breitkopf und Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
- by Johann Christian Baldewein (1784 - 1848), "Trost an Elisa" [ soprano and piano ], from Sechs Lieder mit Begleitung des Pianoforte. 1 Heft, no. 2, Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
- by August Heinrich Leberecht August Mühling (1786 - 1847), "Trost an Elisa", [c1806] [ voice and piano ], from Sechs Lieder mit Begleitung des Pianoforte, no. 4, Leipzig: A. Kühnel (Bureau de Musique) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752 - 1814), "Trost", published 1797 [ voice and piano ], from Gesänge der Klage und des Trostes, no. 4, Berlin, Johann Friedrich Unger [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Friedrich Wilhelm Rust (1739 - 1796), "Trost. An Elisa", published 1796 [ voice and piano ], from Oden und Lieder aus den besten deutschen Dichtern, Zweite Sammlung, no. 11, Leipzig: Bei Georg August Grieshammer [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Trost. An Elisa", D 97 (1814), published 1894 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Troost voor Elisa", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Comfort for Elisa", copyright ©
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Réconfort pour Élise", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Melanie Trumbull , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 81
Are you still leaning your pale, haunted cheeks on this urn of ashes? Weeping for the deceased man whom long ago to the triumphant songs of seraphim the wings of fate carried away? Do you see glimmering in the stars there God's writing, which promises comfort for anxious distress? Brighter will your faith now gleam, that high above the remnant of its veil, the spirit of your beloved still wanders! Hail to the loving companion of your longing, for he is eternally yours! You will see, in the land of transfiguration - you will, suffering woman, see your long-withheld companion, and, like him, be immortal!
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,
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Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Friedrich von Matthisson (1761 - 1831), "Trost an Elisa", written 1783, appears in Wanderjahre in Deutschland (1784-1787), first published 1786
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 104