by Johann Baptist Mayrhofer (1787 - 1836)
Translation © by Emily Ezust

Sag an, wer lehrt dich Lieder
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Available translation(s): CAT DUT ENG ENG FRE
Sag an, wer lehrt dich Lieder,
So schmeichelnd und so zart?
Sie [zaubern]1 einen Himmel
Aus trüber Gegenwart.
Erst lag das Land, verschleyert,
Im Nebel vor uns da -
Du singst - und Sonnen leuchten,
Und Frühling ist uns nah.

Den [Alten, Schilfbekränzten]2,
Der seine Urne gießt,
Erblickst du nicht, nur Wasser,
Wie's durch die Wiesen fließt.
So geht es auch dem Sänger,
Er [singt und]3 staunt in sich;
Was still ein Gott bereitet,
Befremdet ihn, wie dich.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Gedichte von Johann Mayrhofer. Wien. Bey Friedrich Volke. 1824, page 9; and with Conversationblatt. Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Unterhaltung. Dritter Jahrgang. 1821. Nr. 69. (Wien, Mittwoch den 29. August) Im Verlage der Gerold'schen Buchhandlung, page 821.

Note: Schubert received Mayrhofer's texts generally in handwriting; the printed edition of Mayrhofer's poems appeared much later and presents the texts usually in a revised version.

1 Schubert: "rufen"
2 Schubert: "schilfbekränzten Alten"
3 Schubert: "singt, er"

Authorship

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

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) , "Het geheim. Aan Franz Schubert", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Secret. To Franz Schubert", copyright ©
  • ENG English [singable] (Yuxin (Sheila) Zhang) , "Secret. To Franz Schubert", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Secret. À Franz Schubert", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


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

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Last modified: 2019-09-04 20:50:13
Line count: 16
Word count: 78

Secret. To Franz Schubert
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
Tell us, who teaches you these songs,
so flattering and so tender?
They call to mind a heaven
from the troubled Present.
First the land lay veiled
in mist before us;
you sing, and the sun shines
and Spring is near.

The old man crowned with reeds
who pours out his urn
you do not examine; only the water 
that flows through the meadows.
So it goes too with the singer:
he sings, inwardly astounded;
what a God has silently created
perplexes him as well as you.

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 -- https://www.lieder.net/

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.


Based on

 

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Last modified: 2017-08-08 15:26:50
Line count: 16
Word count: 87