by Ernst Stockmann (1634 - 1712)
Translation by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882)
How they so softly rest
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch)
How they so softly rest, All they the holy ones, Unto whose dwelling place Now doth my soul draw near! How they so softly rest, All in their silent graves, Deep to corruption Slowly down sinking! And they no longer weep, Here, where complaint is still! And they no longer feel, Here, where all gladness flies! And, by the cypresses Softly o'ershadowed, Until the Angel Calls them, they slumber!
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882), "The dead", appears in Voices of the Night, first published 1839 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Ernst Stockmann (1634 - 1712) [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 - 1912), "How they so softly rest", op. 35 no. 2, published 1898 [ three-part song for women's chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Faustina Hasse Hodges (1823 - 1895), "The holy dead", published 1848-53 [ vocal trio for treble voices and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Yates Van Antwerp , "The dead", published 1872 [ voice and piano ], from Two Poems [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-06-10
Line count: 16
Word count: 69