Distance | O ancient homeland sweet!

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by Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773 - 1853)

Translation © by Emily Ezust

O alte Heimat süß!

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: DUT ENG FRE

O alte Heimat süß!
Wo find' ich wieder dich?
Welch ein Qual ist dies?
Warum verfolgst du mich?
Warum ertötest mich?

O ferner Liebesschein,
Glimmst wieder nach mir her?
Soll dies mein Glücke sein?
Mir fällt das Leid zu schwer, --
Wer denkt wohl meiner, wer?

Bald such' ich Linderung 
Bei dir, o Tränenguß; 
Denk' dann, es ist genug,
Dann denk' ich ihren Kuß
Und daß ich wandern muß, --

Und neuer Schmerz befällt,
Die arme treue Brust,
Die Lieb' gefangen hält
Und nicht mehr kennt die Lust --
Mir alles ist vergällt.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• F. Hensel

F. Hensel sets stanzas 1-3

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773 - 1853), no title [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 Fanny Hensel (1805 - 1847), "Ferne", op. posth. 9 (Sechs Lieder) no. 2 (1823), published 1850, stanzas 1-3 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text checked 1 time]
by Gustav Reichardt (1797 - 1884), "Lied aus Prinz Zerbino'", published [1824] [ voice and piano or guitar ], from Sechs Lieder von Göthe, Tieck, Matthisson, & Körner mit Begleitung des Pianoforte oder der Guitarre , no. 1, Hannover: In der Hofmusikhandlung von C. Bachmann [sung text not yet checked]

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

DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Distance", copyright ©
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Au loin", copyright © 2013, (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: 20
Word count: 90

Distance

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

O ancient homeland sweet!
Where will I find you again?
What pain this is!
Why do you pursue me?
Why do you mortify me?

O distant glow of love,
will you glimmer again after me?
Should this be my happiness?
I feel this sorrow is too heavy for me;
Who is thinking of me - who?

Soon I shall seek relief 
in you, o gush of tears; 
I shall then think it is enough,
Then I'll think of her kiss -
and that I must keep wandering far away.

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.
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Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773 - 1853), no title
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 87