Cradle song | Sleep softly! - Still in your mother’s embrace!

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by (Karl) Theodor Körner (1791 - 1813)

Translation © by Laura Prichard

Wiegenlied

Language: German (Deutsch)

Available translation(s): CAT DUT ENG FRE

[Schlummre sanft! - Noch]¹ an dem Mutterherzen
Fühlst du nicht des Lebens Qual und Lust;
Deine Träume kennen keine Schmerzen,
Deine Welt ist deiner Mutter Brust.

Ach! wie süß träumt man die frühen Stunden,
Wo man von der Mutterliebe lebt.
Die Erinnerung ist mir entschwunden,
Ahndung bleibt es nur, die mich durchbebt.

Drey Mahl darf der Mensch so süß erwarmen,
Drey Mahl [ist's]² dem Glücklichen erlaubt,
Daß er in der Liebe Götterarmen
An des Lebens höh're Deutung glaubt.

Liebe gibt ihm ihren ersten Segen,
Und der Säugling blüht in Freud' und Lust.
Alles lacht dem frischen Blick entgegen,
Liebe hält ihn an der [Mutterbrust]³.

Wenn sich dann der schöne Himmel trübte,
Und es wölkt sich nun des Jünglings Lauf:
Da, zum zweyten Mahl, nimmt als Geliebte
Ihn die Lieb' in ihre Arme auf.

Doch im Sturme bricht der Blüthenstengel,
Und im Sturme bricht [des Menschen Herz]⁴:
Da erscheint die Lieb' als Todesengel,
Und sie trägt ihn jubelnd himmelwärts.

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Selam. Ein Almanach für Freunde des Mannigfaltigen. Herausgegeben von I.F.Castelli. Dritter Jahrgang 1814. Wien, gedruckt und im Verlage bey Anton Strauß, pages 197-198; and with Theodor Körner's Gedichte. [Erster Theil.] Neueste Auflage. Wien 1815. Bey B. Ph. Bauer, pages 169-170.

¹ Franz: "Schlummer sanft noch"
² Franz: "ist"
³ Franz: "Mutter Brust"
⁴ Franz: "das Menschenherz"

Authorship:

by (Karl) Theodor Körner (1791 - 1813), "Wiegenlied" [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 Stephan Franz (1785 - 1855), "Wiegenlied", published 1815 [ voice, piano ], from Sechs Gedichte von Theodor Körner zum Gesang und Fortepiano, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Franz Hünten (1793 - 1878), "Wiegenlied", published 1838 [sung text not yet checked]
by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Wiegenlied", D 304 (1815), published 1895 [ voice, piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Carl, Freiherr von Seckendorff (flourished c1819), "Wiegenlied", published [1819] [ voice and piano ], from Zwölf Lieder mit Begleitung des Pianoforte in Musik gesetzt und seiner Schwester gewidmet von Carl von Seckendorff, no. 10, Leipzig: Bey Breitkopf und Härtel [sung text not yet checked]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Cançó de bressol", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Wiegelied", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "Cradle song", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Berceuse", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

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

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 158

Cradle song

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Sleep softly! - Still in your mother’s embrace!
You do not feel life’s suffering and desire;
Your dreams know no pains,
Your world is your mother’s breast.

Ah! how sweetly one dreams in [those] early hours,
When one lives through maternal love;
The memory has deserted me,
Only a foreboding remains, which shivers through me.

Thrice may a man be warmed so sweetly,
Thrice is allowed to the lucky,
That in the holy arms arms of Love
He may believe there is a higher purpose for his life.

Love gives him its first blessing,
And the infant blossoms in joy and pleasure,
Laughing at everything with a fresh outlook;
Love holds him to [his] mother’s breast.

But if the beautiful sky dims,
And the youth's course is clouded:
Then, for the second chance, he takes a lover:
[And] Love takes him in her arms.

But if, in a storm, the stalk breaks,
And, in a storm, the man’s heart breaks:
Then Love will appear as the Angel of Death,
And lead him jubilantly heavenwards.

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 (Karl) Theodor Körner (1791 - 1813), "Wiegenlied"

This text was added to the website: 2016-05-18
Line count: 24
Word count: 174