Lobgesang
Language: German (Deutsch)
Available translation(s): ENG FRE
Wie das Meer
ist die Liebe:
unerschöpflich,
unergründlich,
unermeßlich:
Woge zu Woge
stürzend gehoben,
Woge [in]1 Woge
wachsend verschlungen,
sturm-und-wetter-[geberdig]2 nun,
sonneselig nun,
willig nun dem Mond
die unaufhaltsame Fläche —
doch in der Tiefe
stetes [Walten ewiger]3 Ruhe,
ungestört,
[undurchdringbar]4 dem irdischen Blick,
starr verdämmernd in gläsernes Dunkel —
und in der Weite
stetes [Wirken]5 ewiger Regung,
ungestillt,
[unentwirrbar]6 dem irdischen Blick,
[wild]7 verschwimmend im Licht der Lüfte:
[Aufrausch]8 der Unendlichkeit
ist das Meer,
ist die Liebe.
View original text (without footnotes)
Confirmed with Richard Dehmel, Gesammelte Werke in drei Bänden, Berlin, S. Fischer Verlag, 1913, pages 71-72.
1 Mahler: "von"
2 Mahler: "gewaltig"
3 Mahler: "wirken ewige"
4 Mahler: "unentwirrbar"
5 Mahler, Novák: "Schweben"
6 Mahler: "unabsehbar"
7 Mahler: "mild"
8 Mahler, Novák: "Aufklang"
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 (Michael P. Rosewall) , "Song of praise", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Chant de louange", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust
[Administrator] , Joost van der Linden
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 26
Word count: 78
Song of praise
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch)
Love is like
the ocean,
Inexhaustible,
unfathomable,
vast:
Wave to wave,
heaving and falling,
Wave to wave,
surging and plunging,
Now powered by storm and weather,
Now blessed by sun,
obedient to the moon
The interminable expanse.
Yet in the deeps there is
An eternal silence,
undisturbed,
Inaccessible to terrestrial sight,
Motionless, condemned to glassy darkness.
And hovering in the distance
An eternal movement,
unsubdued,
Immeasurable with terrestrial sight,
Gently blurred in the light of the atmosphere;
An echo of infinity
Is the ocean,
is love.
Note: this translation is for Alma Mahler's version.
Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2011 by Michael P Rosewall, (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.
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Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2011-01-21
Line count: 26
Word count: 86