Ist es wahr? Ist es wahr?
Daß du stets dort in dem Laubgang,
An der Weinwand meiner harrst?
Und den Mondschein und die Sternlein
Auch nach mir befragst?

Ist es wahr? Sprich!
Was ich fühle, das begreift nur,
Die es mit fühlt,
Und die treu mir ewig,
Treu mir ewig, ewig bleibt.

Note: The first edition of opus 9 attributed the text to "H. Voss", but Sebastian Hensel (Fanny's son) later wrote that Felix Mendelssohn wrote both music and words on June 6, 1827. Source : Mendelssohn - 24 Songs : Medium Voice, ed. John Glenn Paton, Alfred Music Publishing, 1992.

Authorship

• sometimes misattributed to Johann Heinrich Voss (1751 - 1826)
• by Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847) [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 Max Lippold (1845 - 1907), "Frage", op. 20 (Vier Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 2, published 1892 [ voice and piano ], Hamburg, Rahter [sung text not yet checked]
• by Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847), "Frage", op. 9 (Zwölf Lieder [nos. 7, 10, and 12 are by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel]) no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Vraag", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Question", copyright ©
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Question", copyright © 2010, (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: 10
Word count: 52

Is it true? Is it true
that over there in the leafy walkway, you always
wait for me by the vine-draped wall?
And that with the moonlight and the little stars
you consult about me also?

Is it true? Speak!
What I feel, only she grasps --
she who feels with me
and stays ever faithful to me,
eternally faithful.