by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
Translation © by Daniel Platt

Tiefe Stille herrscht im Wasser
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Available translation(s): CAT DUT ENG ENG FIN FRE FRE ITA
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:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):


The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

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:

 

This text was added to the website: 2009-07-16
Line count: 8
Word count: 41