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Wenn Kummer hätte zu töten Macht, Er müßte tötlich dies Herz durchbohren; Und ließ' ein Glück sich zurückbeschwören, Mein Seufzen hätt' es zurück beschworen.
About the headline (FAQ)
Note: this is an excerpt from a longer selection.Confirmed with Die Verwandlungen des Abu Seid von Seruq oder die Makamen des Hariri von Friedrick Rückert, Vierte Auflage, Stuttgart: Verlag der J. G. Cottaschen Buchhandlung, 1864, page 36.
Authorship
- by Friedrich Rückert (1788 - 1866), no title [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
- a text in Arabic (العربية) by Abu Muhammad al-Qasim ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Hariri (1054 - 1122) [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)
- by Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897), "Wenn Kummer hätte zu töten Macht", op. 113 no. 12 (1859-63) [vocal quartet of female voices a cappella], from 13 Kanons für Frauenstimmen, no. 12, Leipzig, Peters [text verified 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , title 1: "If sorrow had the power to kill", copyright ©
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , title 1: "Si le chagrin avait le pouvoir de tuer", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , title 1: "Als treurnis iemand vermoorden kon", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Last modified: 2015-12-10 15:40:22
Line count: 4
Word count: 24
If sorrow had the power to kill, it would have stabbed fatally through this heart; and if even a glimmer of happiness could have been summoned, my sighs would have brought it back entirely.
Authorship
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust
Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:
Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
from the LiederNet Archive -- https://www.lieder.net/For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Friedrich Rückert (1788 - 1866), no title
- a text in Arabic (العربية) by Abu Muhammad al-Qasim ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Hariri (1054 - 1122) [text unavailable]
Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Last modified: 2015-12-02 13:17:59
Line count: 4
Word count: 34