by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)
Translation © by Martin Stock

Music, when soft voices die
Language: English 
Available translation(s): FRE GER GER
Music, when soft voices die,	
Vibrates in the memory;
Odours, when sweet violets sicken,
Live within the sense they quicken.

Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,
Are heaped for the belovèd's bed;
And so [thy]1 thoughts, when thou art gone,
Love itself shall slumber on.

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View original text (without footnotes)
1 Bridge: "my"

Authorship:

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

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by George John Bennett.
  • Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal'mont (1867 - 1942) ; composed by Feodor Könemann, Boris Lvovich Levinson, Borys Mykolayovych Lyatoshynsky, Vladimir Ivanovich Pol, Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev.
  • Also set in Ukrainian (Українська), a translation by Ivan Matveyevich Steshenko (1873 - 1918) ; composed by Borys Mykolayovych Lyatoshynsky.

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

  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Sloky", Prague, J. Otto, first published 1901
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Martin Stock) , "Musik, wenn leise Stimmen ersterben ...", copyright © 2002, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 46

Musik, wenn leise Stimmen ersterben ...
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the English 
Musik, wenn leise Stimmen ersterben,
klingt nach in der Erinnerung.
Düfte, wenn süße Veilchen ermatten,
leben in den Sinnen, die sie erregen.

Rosenblätter, ist die Rose vergangen,
werden dem geliebten Menschen zum Lager gestreut;
Und so deine Gedanken; bist du gegangen,
soll die Liebe weiter schlummern.

Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2002 by Martin Stock, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:

 

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 46