Like melodies | As sweetest melodies it breezes

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by Klaus Groth (1819 - 1899)

Translation © by Leonard Lehrman

Wie Melodien zieht es

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT DUT ENG ENG ENG FRE IRI ITA SPA

Wie Melodien zieht es
Mir leise durch den Sinn,
Wie Frühlingsblumen blüht es,
Und schwebt wie Duft dahin.

Doch kommt das Wort und faßt es
Und führt es vor das Aug',
Wie Nebelgrau erblaßt es
Und schwindet wie ein Hauch.

Und dennoch ruht im Reime
Verborgen wohl ein Duft,
Den mild aus stillem Keime
Ein feuchtes Auge ruft.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Klaus Groth's Gesammelte Werke. Vierter Band. Plattdeutsche Erzählungen - Hochdeutsche Gedichte, Kiel und Leipzig, Verlag von Lipsius & Tischer, 1893, page 177.

Text Authorship:

by Klaus Groth (1819 - 1899), no title, appears in Hundert Blätter, Paralipomena zum Quickborn, in Erstes Fünfzig, in Klänge, no. 13, Hamburg, first published 1854 [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 Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897), "Wie Melodien zieht es mir", op. 105 (Fünf Lieder) no. 1 (1886), published 1888 [ voice and piano ], Berlin, Simrock [sung text checked 1 time]
by Charles Edward Ives (1874 - 1954), "Wie Melodien zieht es mir", 1898? [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Com una melodia, quelcom passa", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Als melodieën gloeit het", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "It moves like a melody", copyright ©
ENG English [singable] (Shula Keller) , "Just like a melody", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English [singable] (Leonard Lehrman) , "Like melodies", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Comme des mélodies", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
IRI Irish (Gaelic) [singable] (Gabriel Rosenstock) , "Mar cheolta sí ag teacht chugam", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Come una melodia", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Stephen Jackson) , "Se mueve como una melodía", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 58

Like melodies

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

As sweetest melodies it breezes
So softly through the room
With fragrance that so pleases
As flow'rs of spring in bloom.

But when attached to lyrics
And captured as a prey
It loses all its spirit
And seems to melt away.

And yet there does remain in rhyming
A hidden fragrance dear
Which quietly, with timing,
Can still provoke a tear.

Text Authorship:

Singable translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2015 by Leonard Lehrman, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., please ask the copyright-holder(s) directly.
Leonard Lehrman. Contact: ljlehrman (AT) nassaulibrary (DOT) org

If the copyright-holder(s) are unreachable for three business days, please write to: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Klaus Groth (1819 - 1899), no title, appears in Hundert Blätter, Paralipomena zum Quickborn, in Erstes Fünfzig, in Klänge, no. 13, Hamburg, first published 1854
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-07-06
Line count: 12
Word count: 61