by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)
Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Music, when soft voices die
Language: English 
Available translation(s): FRE GER GER
Music, when soft voices die,	
Vibrates in the memory;
Odours, when sweet violets sicken,
Live within the sense they quicken.

Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,
Are heaped for the belovèd's bed;
And so [thy]1 thoughts, when thou art gone,
Love itself shall slumber on.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Bridge: "my"

Authorship:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by George John Bennett.
  • Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal'mont (1867 - 1942) ; composed by Feodor Könemann, Boris Lvovich Levinson, Borys Mykolayovych Lyatoshynsky, Vladimir Ivanovich Pol, Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev.
  • Also set in Ukrainian (Українська), a translation by Ivan Matveyevich Steshenko (1873 - 1918) ; composed by Borys Mykolayovych Lyatoshynsky.

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

  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Sloky", Prague, J. Otto, first published 1901
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Martin Stock) , "Musik, wenn leise Stimmen ersterben ...", copyright © 2002, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 46

Musik, deren Klang verebbt
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the English 
Musik, deren Klang verebbt, 
in unsern Herzen weiterlebt -
Veilchendüfte, sich verströmend
leben fort, den Sinn betörend.

Rosenblättlein, abgepflückt,
vieltausendfach Dein Lager schmückt.
So soll auf Deinem Denken, Tun,
bist Du einst tot, die Liebe ruhn.

About the headline (FAQ)

Authorship:

  • Singable translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2018 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

    Bertram Kottmann.  Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de

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Based on:

 

This text was added to the website: 2018-01-25
Line count: 8
Word count: 36