LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,111)
  • Text Authors (19,486)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

×

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773 - 1853)
Translation © by Emily Ezust

Wie schnell verschwindet
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  CAT DUT ENG FRE ITA LIT TUR
Wie schnell verschwindet
So Licht als Glanz,
Der Morgen findet
Verwelkt den Kranz,

Der gestern glühte
In aller Pracht,
Denn er verblühte
In dunkler Nacht.

Es schwimmt die Welle
Des Lebens hin,
Und färbt sich helle,
Hat's nicht Gewinn;

Die Sonne neiget,
Die Röte flieht,
Der Schatten steiget
Und Dunkel zieht.

So schwimmt die Liebe
Zu Wüsten ab,
Ach, daß sie bliebe
Bis an das Grab!

Doch wir erwachen
Zu tiefer Qual:
Es bricht der Nachen,
Es löscht der Strahl,

Vom schönen Lande
Weit weggebracht
Zum öden Strande,
Wo um uns Nacht.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773 - 1853), no title, appears in Liebesgeschichte der schönen Magelone und des Grafen Peter von Provence, no. 12, chapter heading: "Die Klagen der schönen Magelone" [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 Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897), "Wie schnell verschwindet", op. 33 no. 11 (1861-65), published 1865 [ voice and piano ], from Die schöne Magelone. Romanzen aus L. Tiecks Magelone, no. 11, Winterthur, Rieter-Biedermann [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Wilhelm Killmayer (1927 - 2017), "Trauer", 1965, first performed 1966 [ TBarB chorus a cappella ], from Romantische Chorlieder nach Texten von Ludwig Tieck, no. 3, Mainz, Schott [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Hoe snel verdwijnen nu licht en glans", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Emily Ezust) , no title, copyright ©
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Come scompaiono rapidi", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • TUR Turkish (Türkçe) (Gül Sabar) , copyright © 2016, (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: 28
Word count: 92

How quickly disappear
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
How quickly disappear
Light and radiance;
The morning finds
A withered garland,

That only yesterday glowed
In all its splendor.
For it has faded
In the dark night.

Like a wave does
Life drift away,
As bright as it has painted itself:
It has gained nothing;

The sun sets,
The redness flees,
The shadows climb,
And darkness draws in.

So love floats
Into the wastelands,
Ah, would that it might remain
Until the grave!

Yet we awake
To deep pain:
The skiff breaks,
The light is extinguished.

From the beautiful land
We are brought far away,
To a desolate shore
Where night surrounds us.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles
"Wie schnell verschwindet" = "How quickly disappear"
"Trauer" = "Grief"


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.
    licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773 - 1853), no title, appears in Liebesgeschichte der schönen Magelone und des Grafen Peter von Provence, no. 12, chapter heading: "Die Klagen der schönen Magelone"
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 28
Word count: 104

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris