Ach neige,
Du Schmerzenreiche,
Dein [Antlitz gnädig]1 meiner Noth!

Das Schwert im Herzen,
Mit tausend Schmerzen
Blickst auf zu deines Sohnes Tod.

[Zum Vater blickst du,]2
Und Seufzer schickst du
Hinauf um sein' und deine Noth.

Wer fühlet,
Wie wühlet
Der Schmerz mir im Gebein?
Was mein armes Herz [hier banget]3,
Was es zittert, was [verlanget]4,
Weißt nur du, nur du allein!

Wohin ich immer gehe,
Wie [weh, wie weh]4, wie wehe
Wird mir im Busen hier!
Ich bin ach kaum alleine,
Ich wein', [ich wein',]2 ich weine,
Das Herz zerbricht in mir.

Die Scherben vor meinem Fenster
Bethaut' ich mit Thränen, ach!
Als ich am frühen Morgen
Dir diese Blumen brach.

Schien hell in meine Kammer
Die Sonne früh herauf,
Saß ich in allem Jammer
In [meinem Bett' schon]6 auf.

Hilf! rette mich von Schmach und Tod!
Ach neige,
Du Schmerzenreiche,
Dein Antlitz gnädig meiner Noth!

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Goethe's Werke, Vollständige Ausgabe letzter Hand, Zwölfter Band, Stuttgart und Tübingen, in der J.G.Cottaschen Buchhandlung, 1828, pages 189-190; and with Faust. Ein Fragment. in Goethe's Schriften. Siebenter Band. Leipzig, bey Georg Joachim Göschen, 1790, pages 161-163.

¹ Loewe: "gnädig Antlitz"
² omitted by Lenz.
³ Lenz: "verlanget"
⁴ Lenz: "es banget"
⁵ Lenz: "wehe"
⁶ Lenz: "Bette wieder"

Text Authorship:

• by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), no title, written 1772-75, appears in Faust, in Der Tragödie erster Teil (Part I), first published 1790 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Carl Debrois van Bruyck (1828 - 1902), "Ach neige, du Schmerzenreiche", published 1900 [ voice and piano ], from Drei Lieder Gretchens aus Goethe's Faust für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung, no. 3, Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
• by Joseph Dessauer (1798 - 1876), "Gretchen im Faust" [ voice and piano ], Berlin: Schlesinger [sung text not yet checked]
• by Edmund von Freyhold (1878 - 1944), "Gretchen vor dem Bilde der Mater dolorosa", 1906 [ voice and piano ], from Gesungene Gedichte mit Klavierbegleitung: Sechs Lieder, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Wilhelm Fritze (1842 - 1881), "Gebet vor der Mater dolorosa", op. 17 no. 3, published 1877 [ voice and piano ], from Lieder und Gesänge aus Goethe's 'Faust', no. 3, Breslau, Hientzsch [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Manfred Gurlitt (1890 - 1972), "Gretchen singt", copyright © 2005 [ soprano and orchestra ], from Vier dramatische Gesänge für Sopran und Orchester, no. 3, München, Ricordi [sung text not yet checked]
• by Moritz Hauptmann (1792 - 1868), "Gretchen vor dem Bilde der Mater dolorosa", c1820 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Bernhard (Joseph) Klein (1793 - 1832), "Gretchen" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Conradin Kreutzer (1780 - 1849), "Zwinger", 1820 [ voice and piano ], from Gesänge aus Goethe's Faust, no. 19, an edition from 1836 is mentioned by Hofmeister, published Wien, Trentsensky [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Fredric Joseph Kroll (b. 1945), "Gretchens Gebet", 1965-6, first performed 1982 [ voice and piano ], from Lieder aus der Einsamkeit, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Justus Amadeus Lecerf (1789 - 1868), "Gretchen vor dem Andachtsbild der Mater dolorosa", published 1835? [ voice and piano ], from Neun Gesänge zu Goethe's Faust, no. 9 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Leopold Lenz (1803 - 1862), "Gretchen vor dem Marienbilde", op. 14, Heft 1 (Gesänge Gretchens) no. 3, published 1833 [ voice and piano ], from Gesänge und Lieder aus der Tragödie Faust von Goethe, no. 3, Mainz, Schott [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Leopold Lenz (1803 - 1862), "Ach neige du Schmerzensreiche", op. 13 (Zwei Gesänge) no. 2 [ soprano and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Carl Loewe (1796 - 1869), "Scene aus Faust", op. 9, Heft 9 no. 1 (1835?6?) [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Hans Erich Pfitzner (1869 - 1949), "Gretchen vor der Mater dolorosa", op. 38 no. 5 (1929) [ solo voices, chorus, organ, and orchestra ], from Das Dunkle Reich, choral fantasy for soloists, organ & orchestra, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Antoni Henryk Radziwill, Fürst (1775 - 1833), "Scene im Zwinger. Gretchen", published 1835, from Compositionen zu Göthe's Faust, no. 19, Berlin: Zum ausschliesslichen Debit in Commission bei T. Trautwein, Buch-und Musikhandlung [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Julius Röntgen (1855 - 1932), "Zwinger", 1931 [ solo voices, chorus, orchestra, and organ ], from Aus Goethes Faust, no. 9 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Louis Schlottmann (1826 - 1905), "Gretchens Bitte", op. 44 (10 Goethe'sche Dichtungen) no. 9 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Philipp Schoeller (1882 - 1977), "Aus Goethes Faust 'Zwinger'", c1930 [ voice and piano ], from Fünf Lieder nach verschiedenen Dichtern, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Gretchen im Zwinger", D 564 (1817), published 1838 [ voice, piano ], fragment (last 3 stanzas lost); completed i.a. by Benjamin Britten [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856), "Gretchen vor dem Bild der Mater dolorosa (Gretchen)", 1844-53, published 1858 [ solo voices, chorus and orchestra ], from Szenen aus Goethes Faust, no. 2, Berlin, Friedländer [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Hans August Friedrich Zincke genannt Sommer (1837 - 1922), "Ach neige, du Schmerzenreiche", 1921 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "Ach neige, du Schmerzenreiche" [ voice and piano ], sketch [sung text not yet checked]
• by Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883), "Melodram Gretchens", op. 5 no. 7, WWV 15 no. 7 (1831-2), from Sieben Kompositionen zu Goethes Faust, no. 7 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Hugo Wolf (1860 - 1903), "Gretchen vor dem Andachtsbild der Mater dolorosa" [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in Italian (Italiano), a translation by Luigi Balestra (1808 - 1863) ; composed by Giuseppe Verdi.
  • Go to the text.
    

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Greetje's smeekgebed", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Ah, lean down, you who are full of sorrow", copyright ©
• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Ah abaisse, Toi emplie de douleur", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Io ti prego, Dolorosa", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Richard Morris , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor] , Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 33
Word count: 157

 Deh, pietoso, oh Addolorata,
 China il guardo al mio dolore;
 Tu, una spada fitta in core,
 Volgi gl'occhi desolata
 Al morente tuo figliuol.
 Quelle occhiate, i sospir vanno
 Lassù al padre e son preghiera
 Che il suo tempri ed il tuo affanno.
 Come a me squarcin le viscere 
 Gl'insoffribili miei guai
 E dell'ansio petto i palpiti
 Chi comprendere può mai?
 Di che trema il cor? Che vuol?
 Ah! tu sola il sai, tu sol!
 Sempre, ovunque il passo io giro,
 Qual martiro, qual martiro
 Qui nel sen porto con me!
 Solitaria appena, oh, quanto 
 Verso allora, oh, quanto pianto
 E di dentro scoppia il cor.
 Sul vasel del finestrino 
 La mia la crima scendea
 Quando all'alba del mattino
 Questi fior per te cogliea,
 Chè del sole il primo raggio
 La mia stanza rischiarava
 E dal letto mi cacciava
 Agitandomi il dolor.
 Ah, per te dal disonore,
 Dalla morte io sia salvata.
 Deh, pietoso al mio dololre
 China il guardo, oh Addolorata!