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by Friedrich von Schiller (1759 - 1805)
Translation by George MacDonald (1824 - 1905)

Ritter Toggenburg
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  CAT DUT ENG FRE
»Ritter, treue Schwesterliebe
  Widmet Euch dieß Herz,
[Fodert]1 keine andre Liebe,
  Denn es macht mir Schmerz.
Ruhig mag ich Euch erscheinen,
  Ruhig gehen sehn.
[Eurer]2 Augen stilles Weinen
  Kann ich nicht verstehn.«

Und er hörts mit stummem Harme,
  Reißt sich blutend los,
Preßt sie heftig in die Arme,
  Schwingt sich auf sein Roß,
Schickt zu seinen Mannen allen
  In dem Lande Schweiz,
Nach dem heil'gen Grab sie wallen,
  Auf der Brust das Kreuz.

Große Thaten dort geschehen
  Durch der Helden Arm,
Ihres Helmes Büsche wehen
  In der Feinde Schwarm,
Und des Toggenburgers Nahme
  Schreckt den Muselmann,
Doch das Herz von seinem Grame
  Nicht genesen kann.

Und ein Jahr hat er's [getragen]3,
  Trägt's nicht länger mehr,
Ruhe kann er nicht erjagen,
  Und verläßt das Heer,
Sieht ein Schiff an Joppe's Strande,
  Das die Segel bläht,
Schiffet heim zum theuren Lande,
  Wo ihr Athem weht. 

Und an ihres Schlosses Pforte
  Klopft der Pilger an,
Ach! und mit dem Donnerworte
  Wird sie aufgethan:
»Die Ihr suchet, trägt den Schleier,
  Ist des Himmels Braut,
Gestern war [des Tages]4 Feier,
  Der sie Gott getraut.«

Da verlässet er auf immer
  Seiner Väter Schloß,
Seine Waffen sieht er nimmer,
  Noch sein treues Roß,
Von der Toggenburg hernieder
  Steigt er unbekannt,
Denn es deckt die [edeln]5 Glieder
  Härenes Gewand.

Und erbaut sich eine Hütte
  Jener Gegend nah,
Wo das Kloster aus der Mitte
  Düstrer Linden sah;
Harrend von des Morgens Lichte
  Bis [zu Abends Schein]6,
Stille Hoffnung im Gesichte,
  Saß er da allein.

Blickte nach dem Kloster drüben,
  Blickte Stundenlang
Nach dem Fenster seiner Lieben,
  Bis das Fenster klang,
Bis die Liebliche sich zeigte,
  Bis das theure Bild
Sich ins Thal herunter neigte,
  Ruhig, engelmild.  

Und dann legt er froh sich nieder,
  Schlief getröstet ein,
Still sich freuend, wenn es wieder
  Morgen würde seyn.
Und so saß er viele Tage,
  Saß viel Jahre lang,
Harrend ohne Schmerz und Klage,
  Bis das Fenster klang.

Bis die [Liebliche]7 sich zeigte,
  Bis das theure Bild
Sich ins Thal herunter neigte,
  Ruhig, engelmild.
Und so saß er, eine Leiche,
  Eines Morgens da,
Nach dem Fenster noch das bleiche
  Stille Antlitz sah.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   J. Zumsteeg 

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Musen-Almanach für das Jahr 1798, herausgegeben von Schiller. Tübingen, in der J.G.Cottaischen Buchhandlung, pages 105-109; and with Gedichte von Friederich Schiller, Erster Theil. Zweite von neuem durchgesehene Auflage. Leipzig, 1804, bei Siegfried Lebrecht Crusius, pages 73-77.

1 Schubert (printed editions): "Fordert"
2 Schubert (Neue Gesamtausgabe, first version): "Euer"
3 Zumsteeg, Schubert: "ertragen"
4 Zumsteeg, Schubert: "der Tag der"
5 Schubert: "edlen"
6 Zumsteeg: "zu Abendsschein"; Schubert (not in first version): "zum Abendschein"
7 Zumsteeg: "Liebende"

Text Authorship:

  • by Friedrich von Schiller (1759 - 1805), "Ritter Toggenburg", written 1797 [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 Wilhelm Killmayer (1927 - 2017), "Ritter Toggenburg", 2005, first performed 2005 [ baritone and piano ], Mainz, Schott [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Bernhard (Joseph) Klein (1793 - 1832), "Ritter Toggenburg", published 1836 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752 - 1814), "Ritter Toggenburg", published 1809? [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Ritter Toggenburg", D 397 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg (1760 - 1802), "Ritter Toggenburg", published 1800, from Kleine Balladen und Lieder, Heft I, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in Swedish (Svenska), a translation by Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom (1790 - 1855) ; composed by Erik Gustaf Geijer.
      • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "El cavaller Toggenburg", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Ridder Toggenburg", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (George MacDonald) , "Ritter Toggenburg", appears in Rampolli: Growths from a Long Planted Root. Being Translations, New and Old, Chiefly from the German, first published 1897
  • ENG English (Malcolm Wren) , "Toggenburg the Knight", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Le chevalier Toggenburg", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Martin-Beatus Meier , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 80
Word count: 349

Ritter Toggenburg
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
"True love, knight, as to a brother, 
Yield I you again; 
Ask me not for any other, 
for it gives me pain. 
Calmly I behold you come in, 
Calm behold you go;
Your sad eyes the weeping dumb in 
I nor read nor know." 

And he hears her uncomplaining, 
tears him free by force;
To his heart but once her straining, 
flings him on his horse; 
Sends to all his vassals merry 
in old Switzerland; 
To the holy grave they hurry, 
white-crossed pilgrim band.  

Mighty deeds, the foe outbraving, 
works their hero-arm; 
From their helms the plumes float waving 
mid the heathen swarm;  
Still his "Toggenburg" upwaking 
frays the Mussulman;  
But his heart its grievous aching 
Quiet never can.  

One whole year he did endure it, 
Then his patience lost; 
Peace, he never could secure it, 
And forsakes the host; 
Sees a ship by Joppa's entry 
At her cable saw; 
Sails him home to that dear country 
Where she breath doth draw. 

At the gate, her castle under, 
Pilgrim sad, he knocked; 
Straight, as with a word of thunder 
Was the gate unlocked; 
"She you seek, with rites most solemn, 
Is betrothed to heaven; 
Yesterday, beneath that column, 
She to Christ was given." 

Then the halls he leaves for ever 
Of his ancestors; 
Shield or sword sets eyes on never, 
Or his faithful horse. 
Down from Toggenburg he fareth, 
None to see or care; 
On his noble limbs he weareth 
Sackcloth made of hair; 

And himself a hovel buildeth 
That same cloister nigh, 
Where the lime-tree thicket yieldeth 
Cover whence to spy. 
There, from morning's earliest traces 
Till red evening shone, 
Thither turned his hoping face is, 
There he sits alone. 

On the walls so high above him, 
His eyes waiting hang, 
Waiting, though she would not love him, 
For her lattice-clang -- 
Waiting till the loved should send her 
Glance into the vale, 
And, unthinking, toward it bend her
Visage, angel-pale.  

Then he laid him, sadness scorning, 
Comforted to sleep; 
Quietly joyous till the morning 
Out again should peep. 
And so sat he, years a many, 
Years without a pang, 
Waiting without murmur any 
Till her window rang --  

For the lovely one to send her
Glance into the vale, 
And, unseeing, toward him bend her 
Angel visage pale, 
And thus sat he, staring wanly, 
His last morning there; 
Toward her window still the manly 
Silent face did stare.

Confirmed with George MacDonald, Rampolli: Growths from a Long Planted Root. Being Translations, New and Old, Chiefly from the German, Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1897, pages 61-64.


Text Authorship:

  • by George MacDonald (1824 - 1905), "Ritter Toggenburg", appears in Rampolli: Growths from a Long Planted Root. Being Translations, New and Old, Chiefly from the German, first published 1897 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Friedrich von Schiller (1759 - 1805), "Ritter Toggenburg", written 1797
    • Go to the text page.

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

    [ None yet in the database ]


Researcher for this page: Melanie Trumbull

This text was added to the website: 2015-09-28
Line count: 80
Word count: 398

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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