LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,114)
  • Text Authors (19,495)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

×

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 Heinrich Oser (1820 - 1891)
Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Sommermondnacht
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG
  Schaut der Mond so lachend nieder,
Weil die Erde nun so schön?
  Oder lacht hinauf die Erde
Zu dem Glanz der Himmelshöhn?

  Schweigt im Baum das laue Lüftchen,
Weil der Amsel Lied erklang?
  Oder preist die hehre Stille
Hold des Vogels Nachtgesang?

  Duften lieblicher die Rosen,
Weil der Thau herniedersinkt?
  Oder sinkt er in die Kelche,
Weil der Rose Pracht ihm winkt?

  Rauscht der Brunnen so melodisch,
Weil ihn traf der Mondenstrahl?
  Oder hat der Mondschein lächelnd
Seinen Freund gesucht im Thal?

  Ach, schlägt dir mein Herz entgegen,
Sommermondnacht, traute du?
  Oder bringst du friedestrahlend
Selber freundlich mir die Ruh? --

  Eins ist Erd' und Himmel worden,
Eins nur Glanz und Duft und Klang,
  Und vereint hallt all die Wonne
Durch die Mondnacht im Gesang.

View text with all available footnotes

Confirmed with Liederbuch von Friedrich Oser, 1842-1874, mit einem biographischen Verzeichnis der Componisten, Basel: Benno Schwabe, Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1875, pages 116-117.


Text Authorship:

  • by Friedrich Heinrich Oser (1820 - 1891), "Sommermondnacht", appears in Liederbuch, in 1. Naturlieder, no. 132 [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 Moritz Hauptmann (1792 - 1868), "Sommermondnacht", op. 55 (6 Lieder aus Fr. Osers Naturliedern für vierstimmigen Männerchor) no. 5, published 1864 [ four-part men's chorus a cappella ], Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Ferdinand Sieber (1822 - 1895), "Sommermondnacht", op. 72 no. 5, published 1864 [ medium voice and piano ], from Sechs Naturlieder von Fr. Oser, für mittlere Stimme , no. 5, Magdeburg, Heinrichshofen's Verlag [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Moonlit summer night", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


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

This text was added to the website: 2011-10-03
Line count: 24
Word count: 126

Moonlit summer night
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
  Does the moon gaze down so smilingly
Because the earth is now so fair?
  Or does the earth smile up
To the radiance of the heavenly heights?

  Does the warm breeze fall silent in the tree
Because the blackbird’s song rang out?
  Or does the noble silence beautifully
Praise the night-song of the bird?

  Do the roses emit a more beautiful scent
Because the dew is falling?
  Or does the dew fall into the calyx
Because the glory of the rose is beckoning to it?

  Does the wellspring murmur so melodiously
Because it has been struck by the moonbeam?
  Or did the moonlight smilingly
Seek its friend in the valley?

  Ah, does my heart beat toward you,
Summer moonlit night, you lovely one?
  Or, radiating peace, do you
Yourself bring me rest? --

  Earth and heaven have become one,
Radiance and scent and sound are only one,
  And, unified, all the bliss resounds
Through the moonlit night in song.

View text with all available footnotes

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2017 by Sharon Krebs, (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 Heinrich Oser (1820 - 1891), "Sommermondnacht", appears in Liederbuch, in 1. Naturlieder, no. 132
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2017-08-16
Line count: 24
Word count: 159

Gentle Reminder

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

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris