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

Es schienen so golden die Sterne
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG FRE ITA
Es [schienen]1 so golden die Sterne,
Am Fenster ich einsam stand
Und hörte aus weiter Ferne
Ein Posthorn im stillen Land.
Das Herz mir im Leib entbrennte,
Da hab' ich mir heimlich gedacht:
Ach, wer da mitreisen könnte
In der prächtigen Sommernacht!

Zwei junge Gesellen gingen
Vorüber am Bergeshang,
Ich hörte im Wandern sie singen
Die stille Gegend entlang:
Von schwindelnden Felsenschlüften
Wo die Wälder rauschen so sacht,
Von Quellen, die von den Klüften
Sich stürzen in die Waldesnacht.

Sie sangen von Marmorbildern,
Von Gärten, die über'm Gestein
In dämmernden Lauben verwildern,
Palästen im Mondenschein,
Wo die Mädchen am Fenster lauschen,
Wann der Lauten Klang erwacht,
Und die Brunnen verschlafen rauschen
In der prächtigen Sommernacht. --

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Confirmed with Deutsche Dichter der Gegenwart. Erläutert von August Nodnagel. Erstes Heft: Freiligrath. Eichendorff, Darmstadt, Verlag von Johann Philipp Diehl, 1842, page 106.

Note: the Abt score published in the US has some misprints that should be ignored: stanza 1 line 5 word 6 "entbrannte" instead of "entbrennte"; and stanza 2 line 5 word 3 "Felsenschluchten" instead of "Felsenschlüften"

1 Haeser: "scheinen" (typo?); further changes may exist not shown above.

Text Authorship:

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

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

  • ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Yearning", copyright ©
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Nostalgie", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Nostalgia", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 116

Yearning
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
 The stars were shining with golden light
 as I stood alone by the window
 and listened to the distant sound
 of the posthorn in the still countryside.
 My heart became inflamed in my body,
 and I thought secretly to myself:
 Ah, if only I could journey with them
 into that magnificent summer night!
 
 Two young men were walking
 past on the slope of the mountain,
 and I heard them singing as they walked along
 in the quiet area:
 of vertiginous, rocky gullies 
 where the woods rustle so gently;
 of springs that rush out from the clefts
 into the night of the woods.
 
 They sang of marble statues,
 of gardens that grew wild upon stones
 in dusky groves;
 of palaces in the moonlight
 where maidens listen by the windows
 when the strum of lutes awakens them;
 and of fountains murmuring sleepily
 in the magnificent summer night.

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.


Based on:

 

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 146