If sorrow had the power to kill (Rückert, set by (Johannes Brahms)) (The LiederNet Archive: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)

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by Friedrich Rückert (1788 - 1866)

Translation © by Emily Ezust

Wenn Kummer hätte zu töten Macht

Language: German (Deutsch) after the Arabic (العربية)

Available translation(s): DUT ENG FRE

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]

Based on

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]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 4
Word count: 24

If sorrow had the power to kill

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

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.

Based on

a text in German (Deutsch) by Friedrich Rückert (1788 - 1866), no title

Based on

a text in Arabic (العربية) by Abu Muhammad al-Qasim ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Hariri (1054 - 1122) [text unavailable]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 4
Word count: 34