Lied | Ich sah aus stiller Höhle Innern

by Thomas Moore (1779 - 1852)

Translation by Viktor von Arentsschild (1819 - 1859)

Song

Language: English

I saw, from yonder silent cave, 
Two Fountains running, side by side, 
The one was Mem'ry's limpid wave, 
The other, cold Oblivion's tide. 
"Oh Love!"  said I, in thoughtless mood, 
As deep I drank of Lethe's stream, 
"Be all my sorrows in this flood 
Forgotten like a vanish'd dream!"  

But who could bear that gloomy blank, 
Where joy was lost as well as pain? 
Quickly of Mem'ry's fount I drank, 
And brought the past all back again;  
And said,  "Oh Love!  whate'er my lot, 
Still let this soul to thee be true  --  
Rather than have one bliss forgot, 
Be all my pains remember'd too!"

Confirmed with The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1850, page 267. Appears in Evenings in Greece, in First Evening.

Text Authorship:

by Thomas Moore (1779 - 1852), "Song", appears in The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore, in Evenings in Greece, in 1. First Evening [author's text checked 1 time 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):

[ None yet in the database ]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Viktor von Arentsschild (1819 - 1859) , "Lied" ; composed by Bernhard Ernst Scholz.

Researcher for this page: Melanie Trumbull

This text was added to the website: 2020-12-09
Line count: 16
Word count: 104

Ich sah aus stiller Höhle Innern

Language: German (Deutsch) after the English

Ich sah aus stiller Höhle Innern 
Zwei Quellen strömen Seit' an Seit': 
Die lichten Wellen des Erinnern, 
Die kalten der Vergessenheit. 
"O Liebe!"  sprach ich schwermuthtrunken 
Und schlürfte Lethe's Fluthen ein, 
"Hier soll mein Kummer all versunken, 
Wie flücht'ger Traum vergessen sein!"  

Doch ach, in welche Öde sank ich! 
Die Lust verschollen wie das Leid! 
Schnell vom Erinn'rungsquelle trank ich, 
Beschwörend die Vergangenheit, 
Und sprach:  "O Liebe!  Schöne, Hehre! 
Dir huld'ge wandellos mein Herz; 
Ach!  eh' ich eine Wonn' entbehre, 
Sei unvergeßlich auch mein Schmerz!"

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Albion und Erin, in Liedern, translated by Victor von Arentsschild, Mainz: Victor von Zabern, 1851, page 239.

Text Authorship:

by Viktor von Arentsschild (1819 - 1859), "Lied" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in English by Thomas Moore (1779 - 1852), "Song", appears in The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore, in Evenings in Greece, in 1. First Evening
- Go to the text page.

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

by Bernhard Ernst Scholz (1835 - 1916), "Die Höhle des Trophonius", op. 34 (Vier Lieder für Mezzo-Sopran mit Begleitung des Pianoforte) no. 1 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], Berlin: N. Simrock [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this page: Melanie Trumbull

This text was added to the website: 2020-12-09
Line count: 16
Word count: 85