Als mein Auge [sie]1 fand
Und mein Herz [sie]1 erkannt,
O, wie glühte die Brust
Von Entzücken, von Lust!

Wie voll Düfte die Au,
Und der [Himmel so]2 blau,
Und der Wald voll Gesang,
Und die Lüfte voll Klang!

Ohne [sie]1, wie so kalt,
Und die Welt, wie so alt,
Und die [Erde, wie]3 leer,
Und das Herz, ach, so schwer!

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View original text (without footnotes)

Note: Marschner's score gives the singer the option to replace "sie" with "ihn" in stanza 1, line 1, word 4; stanza 1, line 2, word 4; stanza 3, line 1, word 2.

¹ Kossmaly, Rheinberger: "dich"; Becker also has "dich" in the first line according to Hofmeister and further changes may exist not noted.
² Kossmaly, Marschner, Schoenberg, Stöckhardt: "Himmel, wie"
³ Marschner: "Erde so"

Text Authorship:

• by Joseph Christian Freiherr von Zedlitz (1796 - 1869), "Sehnsucht", appears in Gedichte, first published 1859 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Clementine Becker , "Als mein Auge dich fand", op. 8 (Vier Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung) no. 3, published 1889 [ voice and piano ], Frankfurt a/M., Steyl & Thomas [sung text not yet checked]
• by Jan Levolslav (Johann Leopold) Bella (1843 - 1936), "Sehnsucht", op. 5 (Vier Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung) no. 4, published 1880 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Kahnt  [sung text not yet checked]
• by Robert Emmerich (1836 - 1891), "Sehnsucht", op. 16 (3 Lieder) no. 3, published 1860 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], Offenbach, André [sung text not yet checked]
• by Wilhelm Herzberg (1819 - 1847), "Die Sehnsucht", op. 3 (Sechs Lieder für Sopran oder Tenor) no. 3, published 1846 [ tenor or soprano and piano ], Berlin, Guttentag [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ferdinand von Hiller (1811 - 1885), "Sehnsucht", op. 34 (Drei Gesänge für eine Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 3, published 1846 [ voice and piano ], Berlin, Bote und Bock [sung text not yet checked]
• by Camillo Horn (1860 - 1941), "Sehnsucht", op. 1 (Zwei Lieder für Mittelstimme und Klavier) no. 2, published <<1892 [ medium voice and piano ], Wien, F. Rörich [sung text not yet checked]
• by Friedrich von Kerstorf , "Sehnsucht", published 1874 [ voice and piano ], from Zwölf deutsche Lieder, für 1 Singstimme mit Begleitung des Pianoforte, no. 12, Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
• by Carl Kossmaly (1812 - 1893), "Sehnsucht" [ voice, horn and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Heinrich August Marschner (1795 - 1861), "Sehnsucht", op. 137 no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Ludwig Siegfried Meinardus (1827 - 1896), "Sehnsucht", op. 13 (Drei Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 2, published 1857 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Hofmeister [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Mikuli (1819 - 1897), "Sehnsucht", op. 27 (Sieben Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 6, published 1880 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Kistner [sung text not yet checked]
• by Karl Gottlieb Reissiger (1798 - 1859), "Sehnsucht", op. 99 (7 Gesänge und Lieder) no. 3, published 1835 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], Dresden, Paul [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ernst Michael Quirin Reiter (1814 - 1875), "Sehnsucht", op. 3 (2 Lieder für Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 1, published 1842 [ voice and piano ], Basel, F. Hegar [sung text not yet checked]
• by Joseph (Gabriel) Rheinberger (1839 - 1901), "Sehnsucht", op. 55 no. 3 (1859), published 1871 [ soprano and piano ], from Liebesleben. Ein Cyclus von 8 Liedern, no. 3, Leipzig, Forberg [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Arnold Franz Walter Schoenberg (1874 - 1951), "Sehnsucht", 1896 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Reinhold Stöckhardt (1831 - 1901), "Als mein Auge sie fand", op. 4 (Sechs Lieder und Gesänge für eine Tenorstimme mit Begleitung des Pianoforte) no. 3, published 1873 [ tenor and piano ], Leipzig, Dörffel [sung text checked 1 time]
• by August Walter (1821 - 1896), "Sie", published 1845 [ voice and piano ], from Sechs Lieder, no. 2, Wien, Haslinger [sung text not yet checked]

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

• ENG English (Michael P Rosewall) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor] , Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website: 2009-05-22
Line count: 12
Word count: 61

When my eye found her
And my heart recognized her,
Oh, how my breast glowed
Enkindled with fire, with passion!

How full of fragrance are the meadows,
And the heavens so blue,
And the forest so full of singing,
And the breezes so full of sound!

Without her, how cold it is,
Und the world, how very old,
And the earth, how empty,
And the heart, ah, so heavy!