LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,111)
  • Text Authors (19,486)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

×

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld (1591 - 1635)
Translation © by Sharon Krebs

O Traurigkeit, o Herzeleid!
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG
O Traurigkeit, o Herzeleid!
Ist das [denn nicht zu klagen]1?
Gott des Vaters [einigs]2 Kind
wird [zum Grab]3 getragen!

O höchstes Gut, [unschuldigs]4 Blut!
Wer hätt [dies mögen denken]5,
daß der Mensch [sein']6 Schöpfer sollt
an das Kreuz [aufhenken]7.

O heiße Zähr, fließ immer mehr!
Wen sollt [dies]8 nicht bewegen,
[weil]9 sich über Christi Tod
auch die Felsen regen.

Wie große Pein, Maria rein,
[mußt leiden ohne]10 Maßen,
[denn du bist]11 von jedermann
ganz und gar verlassen.

Wie schwer ist doch der Sünder Joch,
[weil es tut]12 unterdrücken
Gottes Sohn, als er das Kreuz
trug auf seinem Rücken.

O großer Schmerz! O steinern Herz,
steh ab von deinen Sünden,
wenn du willst nach deinem Tod
Gottes [Gnad empfinden]13.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   J. Lang 

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

The first stanza of this text was used in the poem "Ein trauriger Grabgesang" by Johann Rist.

Confirmed with Von guten Mächten wunderbar geborgen: die 100 schönsten geistlichen Lieder, herausgegeben von Dirk Ippen unter Mitwirkung von Albrecht Nelle und Marlene Ippen, 2. Auflage, München: Verlag C.H. Beck, 2006, page 22.

1 Lang: "nicht zu beklagen"
2 Lang: "ein'ge"
3 Lang: "zu Grabe"
4 Lang: "unschuld'ges"
5 Lang: "das mögen sagen"
6 Lang: "den"
7 Lang: "anschlagen"
8 Lang: "das"
9 Lang: "da"
10 Lang: "leid'st du über die"
11 Lang: "du bist ja"
12 Lang: "daß es konnt"
13 Lang: "Gnade finden"

Text Authorship:

  • by Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld (1591 - 1635), "O Traurigkeit, o Herzeleid!", written 1628 [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 Josephine Lang (1815 - 1880), "Am heiligen Grabe", 1876 [ voice and piano ], unpublished [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2023-01-02
Line count: 24
Word count: 134

Oh sadness, oh heartache!
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
Oh sadness, oh heartache!
Is that not something to lament?
God the Father’s only Child
is being borne to His grave!

Oh greatest treasure, innocent blood!
Who could have [thought]1 it
That mankind could [hang
its Creator on]2 the cross.

Oh fervent tear, flow ever more freely!
Who should not be moved by [this]3
[because]4 even the rocks
move in response to Christ's death.

What great anguish, chaste Mary,
you [must suffer without]5 measure, 
for you have been completely and utterly
forsaken by everyone.

How heavy is the yoke of the sinners,
[Because it oppresses]6
the Son of God, as he carried 
the cross upon his back.

Oh great pain! Oh stony heart,
leave off from your sins,
if after your death you wish
to [feel]7 God's grace.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Translations of title(s):
"Am heiligen Grabe" = "At the Holy Sepulchre"
"O Traurigkeit, o Herzleid!" = "Oh sadness, oh heartache!"

1 Lang: "said that"
2 Lang: "nail / its Creator to"
3 Lang: "that"
4 Lang: "since"
5 Lang: "suffer beyond all"
6 Lang: "since it could oppress"
7 Lang: "find"

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2023 by Sharon Krebs, (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) by Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld (1591 - 1635), "O Traurigkeit, o Herzeleid!", written 1628
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2023-01-02
Line count: 24
Word count: 135

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris