Uraltes Wehn vom Meer,
Meerwind bei Nacht:
  du kommst zu keinem her;
wenn einer wacht,
so muß er sehn, wie er
dich übersteht:
  uraltes Wehn vom Meer,
welches weht
[nur wie]1 für Ur-Gestein,
lauter Raum
reißend [von]2 weit herein . . .

O wie fühlt dich ein
treibender Feigenbaum
oben im Mondschein.

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Rainer Maria Rilke, Die Gedichte, Frankfurt am Main: Insel Verlag, 1997, pages 546-547.

¹ Jarnach: "wie nur"
² Apostel, Paulsen: "wie"

Authorship:

• by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Lied vom Meer", subtitle: "Capri. Piccola Marina", appears in Der neuen Gedichte anderer Teil [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 Hans Erich Apostel (1901 - 1972), "Lied vom Meer", subtitle: "(Capri, piccola marina)", op. 6 no. 3, published 1937 [ voice and piano ], Wien: Universal-Edition, Nr. 10917 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Dorothea Hofmann (b. 1961), "Lied vom Meer", 2020 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Philipp Jarnach (1892 - 1982), "Lied vom Meer", op. 15 no. 1 [ voice and piano ], from Fünf Gesänge, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Helmut Paulsen (b. 1909), "Lied vom Meer" [ medium voice and piano ], from Sieben besinnliche Lieder, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Henri Zagwijn (1878 - 1954), "Lied vom Meer ", 1948, from Drei Lieder, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]

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

• ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Song of the Sea", subtitle: "Capri. Piccola Marina", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

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

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 52