Trocknet nicht, trocknet nicht,
Thränen der ewigen Liebe!
Ach! nur dem halbgetrockneten Auge
[Wie öde, wie todt die Welt ihm erscheint]1!
Trocknet nicht, trocknet nicht,
[Thränen unglücklicher Liebe!]2

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Confirmed with Goethe's Werke, Vollständige Ausgabe letzter Hand, Erster Band, Stuttgart und Tübingen, in der J.G.Cottaschen Buchhandlung, 1827, page 108; and with Goethe's Schriften, Achter Band, Leipzig, bey Georg Joachim Göschen, 1789, page 151.

¹ Howe: "Wie öde, wie todt die Welt ihm erscheinet" ; Randhartinger: "Wie öde, wie tief die Welt ihm erscheint! / Wie öde, wie tot die Welt ihm erscheint" (note the use of "tief" in the first repetition of this line)
² Randhartinger : "Tränen der ewigen Liebe!" (the second line is used instead of the last)

Authorship:

• by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), "Wonne der Wehmuth", written 1775, first published 1789 [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 Algernon Bennet Langton Ashton (1859 - 1937), "Wonne der Wehmuth", op. 82 (Vier kurze Lieder für 1 tiefe Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 2, published 1895 [ low voice and piano ], Leipzig, Hofbauer [sung text not yet checked]
• by Alfred Julius Becher (1803 - 1848), "Wonne der Wehmut", op. 1 (Acht Gedichte) no. 2, published 1834 [ voice and piano ], Elberfeld, Betzhold [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), "Wonne der Wehmut", op. 83 (Drei Gesänge von Goethe mit Begleitung des Pianoforte) no. 1 (1810) [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Adolf Busch (1891 - 1952), "Wonne der Wehmut", op. 3a (Drei Lieder) no. 2, published 1922 [ voice, viola and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Adolf Busch (1891 - 1952), "Wonne der Wehmut", op. 3 (Lieder) no. 1 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Robert Caby (1905 - 1992), "Wonne der Wehmut", 1940 [ voice and piano ], also set in French (Français) [sung text not yet checked]
• by A. M. Caspary , "Wonne der Wehmuth", published 1877 [ voice and piano ], from Drei Lieder für Mezzo-Sopran mit Pianoforte, no. 3, Königsberg, Jakubowski [sung text not yet checked]
• by Franz Danzi (1763 - 1826), "Trocknet nicht, trocknet nicht", op. 19 (6 Deutsche Gesänge) no. 2, P 174 no. 2, published 1805 [ voice and piano ], Munich: Falterische Musikhandlung [sung text not yet checked]
• by Moritz, Graf von Dietrichstein (1775 - 1864), "Wonne der Wehmut", c1813/4 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Robert Franz (1815 - 1892), "Wonne der Wehmut", op. 33 (Sechs Lieder) no. 1, published 1859 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Whistling [sung text not yet checked]
• by Fanny Hensel (1805 - 1847), "Wonne der Wehmut", 1829/32 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Mary (Carlisle) Howe (1882 - 1964), "Trocknet nicht", subtitle: "Wonne der Wehmut", 1940, published 1995 [ voice and piano ], San Antonio, TX: Southern Music Company [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Aloys Kothe , "Wonne der Wehmuth", op. 8 (Lieder und Gesänge für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 3, published 1881 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], Leobschütz, Kothe [sung text not yet checked]
• by Carl Krill (1847 - 1927), "Trocknet nicht, Thränen der ewigen Liebe", op. 12 no. 4, published 1879 [ low voice and piano ], from Hohe Liebe. Sechs Lieder für 1 tiefe Stimme mit Pianoforte, no. 4, Berlin, Luckhardt [sung text not yet checked]
• by Heinrich August Marschner (1795 - 1861), "Wonne der Wehmuth", op. 75 (4 Gesänge für 4 Männerstimmen) no. 3, published 1833 [ vocal quartet for male voices or men's chorus a cappella ], Leipzig, Schuberth und Co. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Benedikt Randhartinger (1802 - 1893), "Wonne der Wehmut", op. 9 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752 - 1814), "Wonne der Wehmut", published 1788 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Josef Renner, jun. (1868 - 1934), "Wonne der Wehmut", op. 46 (Fünf Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung) no. 4, published 1900 [ voice and piano ], Regensburg, Boessenecker Verlag [sung text not yet checked]
• by Hermann Julius Riehle (1810 - 1848), "Wonne der Wehmut", published c1831/2 [ bass or baritone and piano ], from Sechs Lieder für eine Bass- oder Baritonstimme mit Pianoforte, no. 4, Leipzig: Bei Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
• by Franz Salmhofer (1900 - 1975), "Wonne der Wehmut", op. 5 no. 3, published 1923, from Vier Lieder, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Franz Xaver Schnyder von Wartensee (1786 - 1868), "Wonne der Wehmuth", subtitle: "Ein sentimentales Quartett für Sopran, Alt, Tenor und Bass ohne Begleitung", published 1822 [ SATB quartet a cappella ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Wonne der Wehmut", op. posth. 115 (Drei Lieder) no. 2, D 260 (1815), published 1829 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Hans August Friedrich Zincke genannt Sommer (1837 - 1922), "Wonne der Wehmut" [ voice and orchestra ], confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Friedrich Wilhelm Stade (1817 - 1902), "Wonne der Wehmuth", op. 36 (Fünf Lieder für gemischten Chor) no. 5, published 1890 [ mixed chorus a cappella ], Leipzig, Rob. Forberg [sung text not yet checked]
• by Alfred Steinmann (flourished c1884-1906), "Wonne der Wehmuth", op. 14 (Drei Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung) no. 3, published 1900 [ voice and piano ], Hannover, Gries [sung text not yet checked]
• by Václav Jan Křtitel Tomášek (1774 - 1850), "Wonne der Wehmut", op. 61 (Gedichte von Goethe: IX) no. 1 (1815?) [sung text not yet checked]
• by Frank Valentin Van der Stucken (1858 - 1929), "Wonne der Wehmut", op. 5 (Neun Gesänge) no. 5 (1879), published 1879 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Kistner [sung text not yet checked]
• by August Walter (1821 - 1896), "Wonne der Wehmut ", op. 10 (Vier Gesänge) no. 2, published 1852 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Breitkopf und Härtel, Ed. no. 8565 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Justus Hermann Wetzel (1879 - 1973), "Wonne der Wehmut" [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Karl Friedrich Zelter (1758 - 1832), "Wonne der Wehmut", 1807 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Winfried (Petrus Ignatius) Zillig (1905 - 1963), "Wonne der Wehmut", 1941, orchestrated 1960 [ female voice and piano or orchestra ], from Zehn Lieder nach Gedichten von Goethe, no. 9 [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in French (Français), a translation by Henri Blaze de Bury (1813 - 1888) , "Volupté du chagrin", appears in Poésies de Goethe, first published 1843 ; composed by Robert Caby.
  • Go to the text.
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), [adaptation] ; composed by Hans Georg Nägeli.
  • Go to the text.
    

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Goig de la melangia", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Geluk in weemoed", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Emily Ezust) , no title, copyright ©
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Joie de la mélancolie", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• IRI Irish (Gaelic) [singable] (Gabriel Rosenstock) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Voluttà della malinconia", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

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

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 6
Word count: 28

Ná triomaíg’,ná triomaíg’,
Deora an ghrá atá síoraí!
Uch, sa tsúil atá leath-thriomaithe
Nach liath, nach marbh atá an saol!
Ná triomaíg’, ná triomaíg’
Deora an ghrá nach gcomhlíontar!1