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Auch das Schöne muß sterben! Das Menschen und Götter bezwinget, Nicht die eherne Brust rührt es des stygischen Zeus. Einmal nur erweichte die Liebe den Schattenbeherrscher, Und an der Schwelle noch, streng, rief er zurück sein Geschenk. Nicht stillt Aphrodite dem schönen Knaben die Wunde, Die in den zierlichen Leib grausam der Eber geritzt. Nicht errettet den göttlichen Held die unsterbliche Mutter, Wann er, am skäischen Tor fallend, sein Schicksal erfüllt. Aber sie steigt aus dem Meer mit allen Töchtern des Nereus, Und die Klage hebt an um den verherrlichten Sohn. Siehe, da weinen die Götter, es weinen die Göttinnen alle, Daß das Schöne vergeht, daß das Vollkommene stirbt. Auch ein Klaglied zu sein im Mund der Geliebten, ist herrlich, Denn das Gemeine geht klanglos zum Orkus hinab.
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Text Authorship:
- by Friedrich von Schiller (1759 - 1805), "Nänie" [author's text not yet checked 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), "Nänie", op. 82 (1880/1), published 1882 [ chorus and orchestra with harp ad libitum ], Leipzig, Peters [sung text checked 2 times]
- by Hermann (Gustav) Goetz (1840 - 1876), "Nenie", op. 10 (1874) [ SATB chorus and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Kahn (1865 - 1951), "Nänie", op. 44 (Zwei Lieder nach Gedichten Friedrich Schillers) no. 1 (1905) [ voice and piano or orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Klaagzang", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , no title, copyright ©
- ENG English [singable] (Daniel Platt) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Nénies", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Anche la Bellezza è destinata a morire!", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 128
Also Beauty must perish! What gods and humanity conquers, Moves not the armored breast of the Stygian Zeus. Only once did love come to soften the Lord of the Shadows, And at the threshold at last, sternly he took back his gift. Nor can Aphrodite assuage the wounds of the youngster, That in his delicate form the boar had savagely torn. Nor can rescue the hero divine his undying mother, When, at the Scaean gate now falling, his fate he fulfills. But she ascends from the sea with all the daughters of Nereus, And she raises a plaint here for her glorified son. See now, the gods, they are weeping, the goddesses weeping now also, That the beauteous must fade, that the most perfect one dies. But to be a lament on the lips of the loved one is glorious, For the prosaic goes toneless to Orcus below.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- Singable translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2009 by Daniel Platt, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., please ask the copyright-holder(s) directly.
Daniel Platt. Contact: abelard2 (AT) aol (DOT) com
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Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Friedrich von Schiller (1759 - 1805), "Nänie"
This text was added to the website: 2009-06-17
Line count: 14
Word count: 148