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by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
Translation © by Daniel Platt
Tiefe Stille herrscht im Wasser
Language: German (Deutsch)
Tiefe Stille herrscht im Wasser, Ohne Regung ruht das Meer, Und bekümmert sieht der Schiffer Glatte Fläche rings umher. Keine Luft von keiner Seite! Todesstille fürchterlich! In der ungeheuern Weite Reget keine Welle sich.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Goethe's Werke, Vollständige Ausgabe letzter Hand, Erster Band, Stuttgart und Tübingen, in der J.G.Cottaschen Buchhandlung, 1827, page 73; with Göthe's neue Schriften. Siebenter Band. Berlin. Bei Johann Friedrich Unger. 1800, page 18; and with Musen-Almanach für das Jahr 1796. Herausgegeben von Schiller. Neustrelitz, bei dem Hofbuchhändler Michaelis, page 83.
Note: The poem's title in the first edition (Schiller's Musenalmanach 1796) is "Meeresstille", from the second edition on (1800) it is "Meeres Stille".
Authorship:
- by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), title 1: "Meeres Stille", title 2: "Meeresstille", first published 1795 [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 Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "Meeres Stille", 1919-29 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Conrad Baden (1908 - 1989), "Meeres Stille", op. 2 (Eleven Songs for Soprano and Piano) no. 6 (1930-5) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Victor Emanuel Bendix (1851 - 1926), "Meeressstille", 1870 [ SATB chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Dawson , "Meeresstille", 2011, published 2011, first performed 2011 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], Score (IMSLP.org) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Gottfried Emil Fischer (1791 - 1841), "Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt", published 1842 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Adolph Martin Foerster (1854 - 1927), "Meeresstille", op. 6 (Sechs Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 5 (1878), published 1878 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Kahnt [sung text not yet checked]
- by Carl Friedrich Johann Girschner (1794 - 1860), "Meeresstille ", op. 34 (Sechs Gesänge für vier Mannerstimmen) no. 2, published 1843 [ vocal quartet of male voices ], Cöln, Eck. und Co. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884 - 1920), "Meeresstille", A. 13 (c1905-11), published 1970 [ medium voice and piano ], from Four German Songs, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Johann Friedrich Kelz (1786 - 1862), "Meerestille", published c1818 [ vocal trio for soprano, tenor, and bass ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Huub de Lange (b. 1955), "Meeresstille", published 2004 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Drei Goethe Lieder, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gabriel Linsén (1838 - 1914), "Tiefe stille herrscht im Wasser", 1912 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (1880 - 1951), "Meeresstille", op. 15 no. 7 (1908), from 12 Goethe-Lieder, no. 7 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752 - 1814), "Meeres Stille", published 1809 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Martin Roeder (1851 - 1895), "Meeresstille", op. 11 (Sechs Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 5, published 1878 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
- by Heinrich Schenker (1868 - 1935), "Meeres Stille", op. 6 (Drei Gesänge) no. 3 [ low voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Meeres Stille", D 215A (1815), published 1952 [ voice and piano ], first version [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Meeres Stille", op. 3 (Vier Lieder) no. 2, D 216 (1815), published 1821 [ voice and piano ], second version [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Václav Jan Křtitel Tomášek (1774 - 1850), "Meeresstille", op. 61 (Gedichte von Goethe: IX) no. 3 (1815?) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Erich J. Wolff (1874 - 1913), "Meeresstille", op. 15 (Drei Lieder von Goethe) no. 3, published 1907 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:
- by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), "Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt", op. 112, published 1815 [ chorus and orchestra ], cantata
- by Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (1829 - 1894), "Meeresstille und Glückliche Fahrt", op. 31 (Sechs Gesänge für vier Männerstimmen) no. 3 [ four-part men's chorus a cappella ], Leipzig, Kistner
- by Wilhelm Dörr , "Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt", published 1882 [ voice and piano ], from Fünf Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung, no. 5, Wien, Gutmann
- by Theodor Podbertsky (1846 - 1913), "Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt", op. 60, published 1894 [ men's chorus and orchestra or piano ], Leipzig, Leuckart
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Arseny Arkad'yevich Golenishchev-Kutuzov (1848 - 1913) ; composed by Nikolai Nikolayevich Cherepnin, Sergey Mikhailovich Lyapunov, Eduard Frantsevich Nápravník, Aleksandr Sergeyevich Taneyev.
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Fyodor Bogdanovich Miller (1818 - 1881) , "Морская тиш" ; composed by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Miklashevsky.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , " ", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Windstille zee", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Deep stillness reigns on the water", copyright ©
- ENG English [singable] (Daniel Platt) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English [singable] (John Bernhoff) , "Becalmed"
- FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , "Merentyven", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Karel Vereycken) , "Mer tranquille", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) [singable] (John Bernhoff) , "Calme de mer"
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Sopra le acque regna una pace profonda", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- RUS Russian (Русский) (Aleksey Nikolayevich Pleshcheyev) , "Тишь на море", first published 1844
Research team for this text: Richard Morris , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 34
Deepest silence rules the waters
Language: English after the German (Deutsch)
Deepest silence rules the waters, Not a motion stirs the sea, And the sailor views the glassy Surface so uneasily. Not a breeze from any quarter, Dreadful silence, still as death. In the vast, appalling distance Not a ripple shows itself.
About the headline (FAQ)
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
If the copyright-holder(s) are unreachable for three business days, please write to:
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), title 1: "Meeres Stille", title 2: "Meeresstille", first published 1795
This text was added to the website: 2009-07-16
Line count: 8
Word count: 41