If ever I was fortunate enough to create something beautiful | If ever I was fortunate enough to create something beautiful

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by Ricarda Octavia Huch (1864 - 1947)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Wenn je ein Schönes mir zu bilden...

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Wenn je ein Schönes mir zu bilden glückte,
Wars, weil ich hingegeben deinem Wesen,
Mit meiner Seele mich in dich verzückte,

Und, wie der Winzer nach dem Traubenlesen
Erglüht und schwankt in Purpurgeist gebadet,
Wie Kranke, die nach tiefem Schlaf genesen,

Wie ein Geliebter, den ein Gott sich ladet,
Ihm teilt an goldnem Tisch des Nektars Blüte, --
Zurück mir kam mit Harmonie begnadet,
Lebendigen Feuers Wogen im Gemüte.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Ricarda Huch, Liebesgedichte, Wiesbaden: Insel-Verlag, 1952, page 35.

Text Authorship:

by Ricarda Octavia Huch (1864 - 1947), no title, appears in Neue Gedichte (Liebesgedichte), first published 1907 [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 Viktor Ullmann (1898 - 1944), "Wenn je ein Schönes mir zu bilden glückte", op. 26 no. 4 (1939), from Fünf Liebeslieder von Richarda Huch, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "If ever I was fortunate enough to create something beautiful", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2006-12-08
Line count: 10
Word count: 68

If ever I was fortunate enough to create something beautiful

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

If ever I was fortunate enough to create something beautiful,
It was because I surrendered myself to your being,
Because I enraptured myself in you with my soul,

And, like the vintner after harvesting the grapes
Comes aglow and totters, bathed in crimson spirit,
Like the sick who, after deep sleep, become well,

Like a beloved, whom a god invites,
[And] shares with him the blossom of nectar at a golden table,
There returned to me, blessed with harmony, 
The surging of living fire in my spirit.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2023 by Sharon Krebs, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Ricarda Octavia Huch (1864 - 1947), no title, appears in Neue Gedichte (Liebesgedichte), first published 1907
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2023-01-18
Line count: 10
Word count: 87