The seamstress | Oh how great is the blessing

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by Ottilie Kleinschrod, née Stieler (1830 - 1913), as Ottilie Malybrok-Stieler

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Die Stickerin

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Wie groß ist doch der Segen,
  Der in der Arbeit liegt!
Sie kommt auf Leidenswegen 
Als Engel uns entgegen,
  Und Thrän' [um]¹ Thräne versiegt. 

Oft meint' ich zu vergehen 
  In allzu bitt'rem Schmerz!
So lang die Augen sehen,
Beim Sticken und beim Nähen,
  Wie wird so still das Herz!

Den Trost in Leidensstunden
  Gibt nur die Arbeit mir;
Sie heilt die Herzenswunden,
Durch sie hab' ich gefunden
  Mein Heil auf Erden hier.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• A. Dvořák

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with O. Malybrok-Stieler, Lyrische Gedichte und Übertragungen nach böhmischer Kunst- und Volks-Poesie, Prag: Druck und Verlag von J. Otto, 1887, page 85.

¹ Dvořák: "auf"

Text Authorship:

by Ottilie Kleinschrod, née Stieler (1830 - 1913), as Ottilie Malybrok-Stieler, "Die Stickerin", appears in Lyrische Gedichte und Übertragungen nach böhmischer Kunst- und Volks-Poesie, in 1. Lyrische Gedichte, in 2. Natur und Leben [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 Antonín Dvořák (1841 - 1904), "Die Stickerin", op. 82 (Vier Lieder) no. 2 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "The seamstress", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2013-07-09
Line count: 15
Word count: 73

The seamstress

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Oh how great is the blessing
  That lies in work!
Upon our sorrowful paths it comes
Toward us like an angel,
  And tear upon tear dries.

Often I thought I would dissolve
  In all-too-bitter pain!
As long as my eyes can see,
When I am embroidering and when I am sewing,
  How my heart grows so quiet!

Comfort in sorrowful hours
  Is only given to me by work;
Work heals the heart's wounds,
Through work I have found
  My salvation here upon earth.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2022 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 Ottilie Kleinschrod, née Stieler (1830 - 1913), as Ottilie Malybrok-Stieler, "Die Stickerin", appears in Lyrische Gedichte und Übertragungen nach böhmischer Kunst- und Volks-Poesie, in 1. Lyrische Gedichte, in 2. Natur und Leben
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2022-01-07
Line count: 15
Word count: 83