Weit in nebelgrauer Ferne
Liegt mir das vergang'ne Glück,
Nur an Einem schönen Sterne
[Weilt]1 mit Liebe noch [der]2 Blick,
Aber [wie]3 des Sternes Pracht
Ist es nur [ein]4 Schein der Nacht.

Deckte dir der lange Schlummer,
Dir der Tod die Augen zu,
Dich besäße doch mein Kummer,
Meinem Herzen lebtest du.
Aber ach! du lebst im Licht,
Meiner Liebe lebst du nicht.

Kann der Liebe süß Verlangen,
Emma, kann's [vergänglich]5 seyn?
Was dahin ist und vergangen,
Emma, kann's die Liebe seyn?
[Ihrer Flamme Himmelsglut,
Stirbt sie, wie ein irdisch Gut?]6

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Gedichte von Friederich Schiller, Erster Theil, Leipzig, 1800, bey Siegfried Lebrecht Crusius, page 300, and with Musen-Almanach für das Jahr 1798, herausgegeben von Schiller. Tübingen, in der J.G.Cottaischen Buchhandlung, pages 115-116.

¹ Reinthaler: "Hängt"
² Krufft: "mein"
³ Reinthaler: "ach"
⁴ Reinthaler: "wie"
⁵ Reinthaler: "die Liebe"
⁶ First edition (Schiller's Musen-Almanach), and Krufft: "Ob der Liebe Lust auch flieht,/ Ihre Pein doch nie verglüht."

Authorship

• by Friedrich von Schiller (1759 - 1805), "An Emma", written 1796, first published 1797 [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 Gottfried Grunewald (b. 1859), "An Emma", published 1875 [ voice and piano ], Weimar, Kühn  [sung text not yet checked]
• by August Harder (1775 - 1813), "An Emma", op. 1 (Gesänge für die Guitarre) no. [9] [ voice and guitar ], Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel [sung text checked 1 time]
• by (Karl) Emil Kauffmann (1836 - 1909), "An Emma", op. 17 (Zehn Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 10, published 1884 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], Tübingen, Laupp [sung text not yet checked]
• by Johann Christoph Kienlen (1783 - 1829), "An Emma", published 1810 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Yrjö Henrik Kilpinen (1892 - 1959), "An Emma", op. 2 (Lauluja Nikolaus Lenaun ja Friedrich von Schillerin runoihin) no. 2 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by C. Klage , "An Emma", published 1831 [ voice and guitar ], Berlin, Kraft [sung text not yet checked]
• by Nikolaus, Freiherr von Krufft (1779 - 1818), "An Emma" [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Franz Xaver Mozart (1791 - 1844), "An Emma", op. 24 (1820) [ voice and piano ], confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Joseph Netzer (1808 - 1864), "An Emma", op. 5, published 1844 [ voice, piano, cello or Waldhorn ], Berlin, Bote und Bock; confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Antoni Henryk Radziwill, Fürst (1775 - 1833), "An Emma " [sung text not yet checked]
• by Benedikt Randhartinger (1802 - 1893), "An Emma", op. 14 (Drei Gedichte) no. 2 [ voice and piano ], Wien: Diabelli & Co. [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Carl Martin Reinthaler (1822 - 1896), "Weit in nebelgrauer Ferne", op. 10 (Sechs Lieder) no. 2, published c1860 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "An Emma", op. 58 (Drei Lieder) no. 2, D 113 (1814), published 1821 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Ferdinand Sieber (1822 - 1895), "An Emma ", op. 1 (Sechs Lieder für Alt oder Bass) no. 4, published 1844 [ alto or bass and piano ], Leipzig, Breitkopf und Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
• by Johann Xaver Sterkel (1750 - 1817), "An Emma", op. 11 (Sechs Gesänge mit Begleitung des Piano-Forte) no. 6 [ voice and piano ], Bonn, Nikolaus Simrock [sung text not yet checked]
• by Felix Paul Weingartner (1863 - 1942), "Emma ", published 1890 [ voice and piano ], from Drei Lieder für 1 tiefere Singst und Pianoforte, no. 3, Mannheim, Heckel [sung text not yet checked]
• by August Heinrich von Weyrauch (1788 - 1865), "An Emma" [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Mikhail Yur'yevich Lermontov (1814 - 1841) , "К Нине" ; composed by Vladimir Mitrofanovich Ivanov-Korsunsky.
  • Go to the text.
    

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Aan Emma", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "To Emma", copyright ©
• FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "À Emma", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Amelia Maria Imbarrato) , "Ad Emma", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 91

 Far in the misty grey distance
 lies my former luck;
 only on one fair star
 does my glance linger with love.
 But, like the splendor of a star,
 it is only the gleam of the night.
 
 Even when long sleep covered you
 and death closed your eyes,
 my woe still kept you alive,
 and you lived in my heart.
 But alas! you live in light,
 and you live no longer for my love.
 
 Can the sweet yearning of love,
 Emma, can it be ephemeral?
 What is gone and past,
 Emma, can it really be Love?
 Heavenly, glowing flame -
 does it die like an earthly thing?