LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,102)
  • Text Authors (19,442)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

×

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857)
Translation © by Emily Ezust

Die Nonne und der Ritter
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  CAT DUT ENG FRE ITA LIT SPA
Da die Welt zur Ruh' gegangen,
Wacht mit Sternen mein Verlangen;
In der Kühle muß ich lauschen,
Wie die Wellen unten rauschen.

"Fernher mich die Wellen tragen,
Die ans Land so traurig schlagen,
Unter deines Fensters Gitter,
Fraue, kennst du noch den Ritter?"

Ist's doch, als ob seltsam' Stimmen
Durch die lauen Lüfte schwimmen;
Wieder hat's der Wind genommen -
Ach, mein Herz ist so beklommen!

"Drüben liegt dein Schloß verfallen,
Klagend in den öden Hallen
Aus dem Grund der Wald mich grüßte -
's war, als ob ich sterben müßte."

Alte Klänge blühend schreiten!
Wie aus lang versunknen Zeiten
Will mich Wehmut noch bescheinen,
Und ich möcht' von Herzen weinen.

"Überm Walde blitzt's [vom weiten]1,
Wo um Christi Grab sie streiten;
Dorthin will mein Schiff ich wenden,
Da wird alles, alles enden!"

Geht ein Schiff, ein Mann stand [drinne]2,
Falsche Nacht, verwirrst die Sinne,
Welt Ade! Gott woll' bewahren,
Die noch irr im Dunkeln fahren.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   J. Brahms 

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Joseph Freiherrn von Eichendorff's Werke. Erster Theil. Gedichte. Berlin. Verlegt von M. Simion. 1841, page 423-424; and with Joseph Freiherrn von Eichendorff's sämmtliche Werke. Zweite Auflage. Erster Band. Leipzig, Voigt & Günther. 1864, page 640-641.

A first, unpublished version with the title Maria von Tyrol im Kloster originated from 1808.

1 Eichendorff, Gedichte 1837: "von Weitem"
2 Brahms: "drinnen"

Text Authorship:

  • by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857), "Die Nonne und der Ritter", written 1808, appears in Gedichte, in 7. Romanzen, Berlin, Duncker und Humblot, first published 1837 [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 Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897), "Die Nonne und der Ritter", op. 28 (Vier Duette für Alt und Bariton mit Pianoforte) no. 1 (1860), published 1864 [ vocal duet for alto and baritone with piano ], Wien, Spina [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Hans Erich Pfitzner (1869 - 1949), "Die Nonne und der Ritter", op. 28, Heft 3 no. 3, published 1921, first performed 1922 [ alto, tenor, mixed chorus, and orchestra ], from Von deutscher Seele - Teil III - Der Liederteil, no. 3, Adolph Fürstner, Berlin [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "La monja i el cavaller", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "De non en de ridder", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "The Nun and the Knight", copyright ©
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "La nonne et le chevalier", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , ""La monaca e il cavaliere" da "Romanze"", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , "Vienuolė ir riteris", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • SPA Spanish (Español) (Alfonso Sebastián) , "La monja y el caballero", copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


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

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 28
Word count: 158

The Nun and the Knight
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
 As the world goes to rest,
 my yearning awakens with the stars;
 I must listen in the cool
 as the waves roar below!
 
 "I am brought here from far away by waves
 that beat so mournfully against the land,
 beneath the bars of your window.
 Lady, do you still know this Knight?"
 
 It is as if strange voices
 are floating through the mild air;
 once again the wind has taken them away, -
 alas, my heart is so anxious!
 
 "Over there lies your ruined castle
 lamenting in its desolate halls;
 the way the woods greeted me,
 I felt as though I must die."
 
 Old sounds burst forth,
 sunk long since in time;
 melancholy falls on me once again,
 and I feel like weeping from my heart.
 
 "Over the wood lightning flashes from afar,
 where they are fighting over the grave of Christ;
 There will I steer my ship,
 and there will everything end!"
 
 A ship leaves with a man upon it;
 false night, you bewilder the mind!
 Farewell, world! May God protect
 those who wander madly in darkness!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust

    Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:

    Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
    from the LiederNet Archive

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.
    licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857), "Die Nonne und der Ritter", written 1808, appears in Gedichte, in 7. Romanzen, Berlin, Duncker und Humblot, first published 1837
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 28
Word count: 178

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris