Painful delight and delightful pain | Painful delight and delightful pain

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by Emanuel von Geibel (1815 - 1884)

Translation © by Laura Prichard

Schmerzliche Wonnen und wonnige...

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT ENG FRE

Schmerzliche Wonnen und wonnige Schmerzen,
Wasser im Auge und Feuer im Herzen,
Stolz auf den Lippen und Seufzer im Sinne,
Honig und Galle zugleich ist die Minne.

Oft, wenn ein Seelchen vom [Leib sich]¹ geschieden,
Möcht' es Sankt Michael tragen [zum]² Frieden.
Aber der Dämon auch möcht' es verschlingen;
Keiner will weichen, da geht es ans Ringen.

Seelchen, gequältes, in ängstlichem Wogen
Fühlst du dich hierhin und dorthin gezogen,
Aufwärts und abwärts. In solches Getriebe
Stürzt zwischen Himmel und Höll' uns die Liebe.

Mütterchen, ach, und mit siebenzehn Jahren
Hab ich dies Hangen und Bangen erfahren,
Hab's dann verschworen mit Thränen der Reue;
Ach, und schon lieb' ich, schon lieb' ich auf's neue.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• H. Wolf

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View original text (without footnotes)
Note: this is an original poem and not a translation.

Confirmed with Spanisches Liederbuch von Emanuel Geibel und Paul Heyse, Dritte Auflage, Stuttgart und Berlin: J.G. Cotta'sche Buchhandlung Nachfolger, 1904, page 100.

¹ Wolf: "Leibe"
² Wolf: "in"

Text Authorship:

by Emanuel von Geibel (1815 - 1884), no title, appears in Spanisches Liederbuch, in 2. Weltliche Lieder, no. 53 [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 Hugo Wolf (1860 - 1903), "Schmerzliche Wonnen und wonnige Schmerzen", 1889-90, from Spanisches Liederbuch: Weltliche Lieder, no. 18 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-20
Line count: 16
Word count: 115

Painful delight and delightful pain

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Painful delight and delightful pain,
Water in [my] eyes and fire in [my] heart,
Pride on [my] lips and sighs in [my] senses,
Just like honey and gall is love.

Often, when a soul departs its body,
Saint Michael would like to carry [it] to peace.
But the Devil would also like to devour it;
Neither wants to yield, on they fight.

Soul, tortured, in fearful heaving,
you feel drawn here and there,
upward and downward. In such a whirl
love plunges between heaven and hell.

Dear Mother, ah, already at seventeen years
I have felt this proclivity and fear.
So I’ve foresworn it with tears of repentance
ah, but already I’m in love again, already I love anew.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura Prichard, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Emanuel von Geibel (1815 - 1884), no title, appears in Spanisches Liederbuch, in 2. Weltliche Lieder, no. 53
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2016-02-08
Line count: 16
Word count: 119