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by (Christian) Friedrich Hebbel (1813 - 1863)
Translation © by John H. Campbell

Auf eine Unbekannte
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG FRE
Die Dämmerung war längst hereingebrochen,
  Ich hatt' dich nie gesehn, du tratst heran,
Da hat dein Mund manch mildes Wort gesprochen
  In heil'gem Ernst, der dir mein Herz gewann.
Still, wie du nahtest, hast du dich erhoben
  Und sanft uns Allen gute Nacht gesagt,
Dein Bild war tief von Finsternis umwoben,
  Nach deinem Namen hab' ich nicht gefragt.

Nun wird mein Auge nimmer dich erkennen,
  Wenn du auch einst vorüber gehst an mir,
Und hör' ich dich von fremder Lippe nennen,
  So sagt dein Name selbst mir Nichts von dir.
Und dennoch wirst du ewig in mir leben,
  Gleichwie ein Ton lebt in der stillen Luft,
Und kann ich Form dir und Gestalt nicht geben,
  So reißt auch keine Form dich in die Gruft.

Das Leben hat geheimnisvolle Stunden,
  [Drin]1 thut selbst herrschend, die Natur sich kund;
Da bluten wir und fühlen keine Wunden,
  Da freu'n wir uns und freu'n uns ohne Grund.
Vielleicht wird dann zu flüchtigstem Vereine
  Verwandtes dem Verwandten nah gerückt,
Vielleicht, ich schaudre, jauchze oder weine,
  Ist's dein Empfinden, welches mich durchzückt!

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   P. Cornelius 

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Gedichte von Friedrich Hebbel. Gesammt-Ausgabe stark vermehrt und verbessert, Stuttgart und Augsburg, J. G. Cotta'scher Verlag, 1857, pages 121-122.

1 Cornelius: "Da"

Text Authorship:

  • by (Christian) Friedrich Hebbel (1813 - 1863), "Auf eine Unbekannte", appears in Gedichte, in 3. Vermischte Gedichte [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 Peter Cornelius (1824 - 1874), "Auf eine Unbekannte", op. 5 (6 Lieder) no. 3 (1861) [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (John H. Campbell) , "To an unknown", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Sur une inconnue", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , John H. Campbell , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 177

To an unknown
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
The twilight had long passed,
I could not see you, you walked along,
Then, you had spoken some soft words
In endearing seriousness, that won my heart.
Quietly, we drew near, you rose
And softly we said good night,
Your visage was mask'd by the enveloping darkness,
I did not ask for your name.

Now, my eyes will never recognize you,
If you once pass me by,
And if I hear other lips say your name,
So, that name will tell me nothing of you.
And yet you will live eternally in me,
As a sound lives in the quiet air,
And as I cannot give shape and form to you,
So, also no tears can place you in the tomb.

Life has mysterious hours,
When, nature itself knows my fate;
Then we bleed but feel no wounds,
We are happy then and pleased with no reason.
Perhaps then these too-fleeting associations
of familiar things will grow more familiar;
If I tremble, rejoice or weep,
It is memory of you, which helps me endure.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by John H. Campbell, (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 (Christian) Friedrich Hebbel (1813 - 1863), "Auf eine Unbekannte", appears in Gedichte, in 3. Vermischte Gedichte
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 174

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

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