Mary on her way to church | Mary on her way to church

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from Volkslieder (Folksongs)

Translation © by Linda Godry

Marias Kirchgang

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: DUT ENG FRE ITA SPA

Maria woll't zur Kirche gehn,
da kam sie an den tiefen See.

Als sie wohl an den See hinkam,
der Schiffmann jung stand fertig da.

"Ach, Schiffmann, schiff mich über das Meer,
ich geb' dir was dein Herz begehrt".

"Ich schiffe dich wohl über das Meer,
wenn du willst meine Hausfrau sein".

Soll ich erst deine Hausfrau sein,
viel lieber schwimm'ich über das Meer".

Als sie wohl in die Mitte kam,
fingen alle Glöcklein zu läuten an.

Sie läuten gross, sie läuten klein,
sie läuteten wohl alle zugleich.

Maria kniet auf einen Stein,
dem Schiffmann sprang sein Herz entzwei.

Text Authorship:

from Volkslieder (Folksongs) , appears in Des Knaben Wunderhorn [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), "Marias Kirchgang", op. 22 no. 2 (1859), published 1862 [ mixed chorus ], from Marienlieder, no. 2, Leipzig, Rieter-Biedermann [sung text checked 1 time]

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

DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Maria’s kerkgang", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Linda Godry) , "Mary on her way to church", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Marie sur le chemin de l'église", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Giovanni Duci) , "Viaggio di Maria alla chiesa", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Alfonso Sebastián) , "María va a la iglesia", copyright © 2021, (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: 16
Word count: 99

Mary on her way to church

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Mary on her way to church
Was stopped by a deep lake.

When she reached the shore,
A young ferryman stood ready.

"Oh, ferryman, get me across the water,
I'll grant your every wish."

"I will bring you well across the lake
if you will become my wife."

"Rather than become your wife 
I will swim on my own to the other side of the lake."

As soon as she was right in the middle,
All bells started ringing

Be they great or small,
And they sounded all together.

Mary knelt on a boulder,
And the ferryman's heart broke in two.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2009 by Linda Godry, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) from Volkslieder (Folksongs) , appears in Des Knaben Wunderhorn
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2009-07-26
Line count: 16
Word count: 101