Dein süßes Bild, [Edone,]1
Schwebt stets vor meinem Blick;
[Allein]2 ihn trüben Zähren,
Daß du es selbst nicht bist.

Ich seh' es, wenn der Abend
Mir dämmert, wenn der Mond
Mir glänzt, seh' ich's, und weine,
Daß du es selbst nicht bist.

Bey jenes Thales Blumen,
Die ich ihr lesen will,
Bey jenen Myrtenzweigen,
Die ich ihr flechten will,

Beschwör ich dich, Erscheinung,
Auf, und verwandle dich!
Verwandle dich, Erscheinung,
Und [werd' Edone]3 selbst!

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Klopstocks Oden. Erster Band. Leipzig bey Georg Joachim Göschen. 1798, page 311.

¹ Zumsteeg: "o Lida!" ; Bach: "O Lyda"
² Zumsteeg: "Doch ach"
³ Zumsteeg: "werde Lida, Lida" ; Bach: "werde Lyda selbst"

Authorship

• by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724 - 1803), "Edone", written 1767 [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 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714 - 1788), "Lyda", H 737 [ voice and piano ], confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Edone", D 445 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Josef Antonín Štěpán (1726 - 1797), "Dein süßes Bild", published 1778-9 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Johann Xaver Sterkel (1750 - 1817), "Edone" [ voice and piano ], from Sechs Gesänge mit Begleitung des Pianoforte, 10te Sammlung, no. 2, Leipzig: Bei Ambrosius Kühnel, No. 341 (Bureau de Musique) [sung text not yet checked]
• by Anton Urspruch (1850 - 1907), "Edone", op. 23 (Lieder für eine Singstimme) no. 7 (1882) [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg (1760 - 1802), "Lida", published 1803, from Kleine Balladen und Lieder, Heft V, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Edone", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Malcolm Wren) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Édone", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

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

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 74

Your sweet image, Edone,
Is forever hovering before my eyes;
Yet my vision is clouded by tears
Because it is the image, not you yourself.

I see it when evening
Plunges me into twilight, when the moon
Shines on me, I see it and weep
Because it is the image, not you yourself.

By all of the flowers of the valley
That I would like to pick for her,
By those sprigs of myrtle
That I would like to plait together for her,

I conjure you, oh apparition,
Up and transform yourself!
Transform yourself, apparition,
And turn into Edone herself!