[Ach! wie]1 schallt's dorten so lieblich hervor;
   Fürchte Gott!
   Fürchte Gott!
Ruft mir die Wachtel in's Ohr!
Sitzend im Grünen, von Halmen umhüllt,
Mahnt sie den Horcher [im Schattengefild]2:
   Liebe Gott!
   Liebe Gott!
Er ist so [gütig, so]3 mild.

Wieder bedeutet ihr hüpfender Schlag:
   Lobe Gott!
   Lobe Gott!
Der dich zu lohnen vermag.
Siehst du die herrlichen [Früchten]4 im Feld,
Nimm es zu Herzen, Bewohner der Welt!
   Danke Gott!
   Danke Gott!
Der dich ernährt und erhält.

Schreckt [mich]5 im Wetter der Herr der Natur,
   Bitte Gott!
   Bitte Gott!
Ruft sie, er schonet die Flur.
Machen Gefahren [des Krieges mir]6 bang,
[Tröstet mich wieder der Wachtelgesang:]7
   Traue Gott!
   Traue Gott!
Sieh, er verziehet nicht lang!

View text without footnotes

Confirmed with Almanach und Taschenbuch für häusliche u. gesellschaftl. Freuden. 1799. von Carl Lang mit Kupfern von D. Chodowicki, H. Guttenberg &. Heilbronn am Neckar im Industrie Comtoir, pages 250-251.

This is the first version of Sauter's poem. Later he published his poem in a revised form, see below.

¹ Beethoven (first print), and Schubert: "Ach, mir"; Sauter (1811 edition), and Beethoven (Breitkopf & Härtel): "Horch, wie"
² Sauter (1811 edition), Beethoven (Breitkopf & Härtel), and Schubert (Alte Gesamtausgabe): "am Saatengefild"
³ Beethoven (Breitkopf & Härtel): "gütig und"
⁴ Beethoven and Schubert: "Früchte"
⁵ Beethoven and Schubert: "dich"
⁶ Beethoven and Schubert: "der Krieger dir"
⁷ omitted by Beethoven and Schubert

Text Authorship:

• by Samuel Friedrich Sauter (1766 - 1846), "Der Wachtelschlag", written 1796, first published 1799 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), "Der Wachtelschlag", WoO 129 (1803) [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Der Wachtelschlag", op. 68, D 742 (1822) [sung text checked 1 time]

Another version of this text exists in the database.

• Go to the text. [ view differences ]
  

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "El crit de la guatlla", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "De kwartelslag", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Iain Sneddon) , "The cry of the quail", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Le cri de la caille", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ITA Italian (Italiano) [singable] (Jakob Nikolaus Craigher de Jachelutta) , "Il canto della quaglia"

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 27
Word count: 121

Ah! donde vien quel suon che mi colpí,
Temi Dio! temi Dio! 
sol s'esprime la quaglia cosí.
Fra l'erbe e i fior celata ella si sta,
Ed a' pastor sempre gridando va:
Ama Dio! ama Dio! 
che tutto vi donò.

L'ascolto ancor in sua favella dir:
Loda Dio! loda Dio! 
che gli omaggi suol gradir.
Non vedi tu quai frutti prodigò
Per sua virtú la terra ch'ei creò:
Loda Dio! loda Dio! 
e Dio t'assisterà.

Se freme in ciel de' nembi il rio fragor,
Fida in Dio! fida in Dio! 
io pur l'odo ripetere ancor!
All'ira ostil, se i campi vuoi sottrar -

Fida in Dio! fida in Dio! 
che sa portenti oprar.