Lament | The sun rises, the sun sets

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Friedrich von Matthisson (1761 - 1831)

Translation © by Malcolm Wren

Klage

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT DUT ENG ENG FRE

Die Sonne steigt, die Sonne sinkt,
Des Mondes Wechselscheibe blinkt,
Des Aethers Blau durchwebt mit Glanz
Der Sterne goldner Reihentanz:

Doch es durchströmt der Sonne Licht,
Des Mondes lächelndes Gesicht,
Der Sterne Reigen, still und hehr,
Mit Hochgefühl dies Herz nicht mehr!

Die Wiese blüht, der Büsche Grün
Ertönt von Frühlingsmelodien,
Es wallt der Bach im Abendstral
Hinab ins hainumkränzte Thal:

Doch es erhebt der Haine Lied,
Die Au, die tausendfarbig blüht,
Der Erlenbach im Abendlicht
Wie vormals meine Seele nicht!

O Schmerz! wenn unsrer Jugend Freund
Des Abschieds bittre Zähre weint!
So trifft beim frohen Erntemahl
Des Landmanns Dach ein Wetterstral!

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• F. Schubert

F. Schubert sets stanzas 1-4

Confirmed with Gedichte von Friedrich von Matthisson. Erster Theil. Tübingen, bei Cotta, 1811, pages 51-52; and with Gedichte von Friedrich Matthisson. Erster Theil. Neueste, sehr vermehrte und vollständigste Ausgabe. Wien 1815. In Commission bey Cath. Gräffer und Härter, page 44.

Note: Stanzas 1-4 of this poem are part of the much longer poem Die Geliebte published by Matthisson in the 1783 Dessau edition and the 1787 Mannheim edition, where they appear as stanzas 14-17 of the 23 stanzas of that poem. Stanza 5 of Klage has been added by Matthisson only in the 1811 Tübingen edition (the Wien 1815 edition referenced above, which most likely was Schubert's text source, is merely a reprint of the 1811 Tübingen edition).

Text Authorship:

by Friedrich von Matthisson (1761 - 1831), "Klage", written 1778, first published 1811 [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 Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Klage", D 415 (1816), published 1895, stanzas 1-4 [sung text checked 1 time]

Another version of this text exists in the database.

Go to the text. [ view differences ]

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

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

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 102

Lament

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

The sun rises, the sun sets,
The changing disc of the moon looks down,
The blue of the ether is interweaved with the glow
Of the stars in their golden line dance:

But the sun's light no longer flows clearly,
The smiling face of the moon,
The dance of the stars, quiet and majestic,
No longer lift this heart with elation!

The meadow blossoms, the green of the bushes
Rings out with the melodies of spring,
In the evening light the brook winds
Down into the valley garlanded by woods:

But the song of the woodlands no longer touches me,
The meadow that blossoms into a thousand colours,
The stream through the alder trees in the light of evening,
These things do not raise my soul as they used to!

Oh agony, when the friend of our youth
Weeps the bitter tears of farewell!
It is like people at the merry harvest supper
Under the farmer's roof experiencing a downpour!

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2017 by Malcolm Wren, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Friedrich von Matthisson (1761 - 1831), "Klage", written 1778, first published 1811
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2017-08-11
Line count: 20
Word count: 160