by Adolf Friedrich, Graf von Schack (1815 - 1894)
Translation © by Emily Ezust

Hoffen und wieder verzagen
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  CAT DUT ENG FRE
Hoffen und wieder verzagen,
Harrend lauschen [vor]1 ihrem Balkon,
Ob nicht, vom Winde getragen,
Zu mir dringe von ihr ein Ton,
Also [reihen]2 seit Monden schon
Tage sich mir zu Tagen.

Spät, wenn stumm und stummer
Nacht sich lagert im öden Revier,
Senken zu kurzem Schlummer
Sich ermüdet die Wimpern mir;
Wieder empor aus Träumen von ihr
Fahr' ich zu neuem Kummer.

Aber, o Himmel, ich flehe:
Raube mir nicht mein teuerstes Gut,
Dies beglückende Wehe,
Das ich genährt mit des Herzens Blut!
Hoch und höher laß lodern die Glut,
Drin ich selig vergehe!

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   R. Strauss 

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Strauss: "an"
2 Strauss: "reih'n"

Text Authorship:

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

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Esperar i de nou desesperar", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Hopen en dan weer versagen", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Hoping and despairing again", copyright ©
  • ENG English [singable] (John Bernhoff) , "Hoping, yet ever despairing", first published 1897
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Lau Kanen [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 96

Hoping and despairing again
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
Hoping and despairing again,
listening impatiently at her balcony,
in case the wind carries
to me the sound of her voice -
thus for a month already 
the days have passed for me.

Late, when mutely and more mutely
night rests in this bleak area,
into a brief slumber droop
my exhausted eyelids;
they open again from dreams of her
and I go onward with new anguish.

But, O Heaven, I pray:
do not rob me of my dearest possession,
this happy woe
which I have nourished with the blood of my heart;
high and higher let the flames blaze,
so that I may die blissfully in them.

Text 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

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.


Based on:

 

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 107