Die Wellen blinken und fließen dahin,
Es liebt sich so lieblich im Lenze!
Am Flusse sitzet die Schäferin 
Und windet die zärtlichsten Kränze.

[ Das knospet und quillt und duftet und blüht,]1
es liebt sich so lieblich im Lenze!
Die Schäferin seufzt aus [tiefer Brust]2:
»Wem geb' ich meine Kränze?«

Ein Reiter reitet den Fluß entlang,
er grüßet so blühenden Mutes,
die Schäferin schaut ihm nach so bang,
fern flattert die Feder des Hutes.

Sie weint und wirft in den gleitenden Fluß
die schönen Blumenkränze.
Die Nachtigall singt von Lieb' und Kuß,
es liebt sich so lieblich im Lenze!

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ In later editions, Heine changed this to "Das knospet und quillt, mit duftender Lust" (The budding, the streaming, with joyous, wafting fragrances). Stanford uses this.
² In the first edition, Heine had: "vollem Gemüt"; but in later editions he changed it to "tiefer Brust".

Authorship

• by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856), "Frühling", appears in Neue Gedichte, in Romanzen, no. 13, first published 1839 [author's text not yet checked 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 Károly Aggházy (1855 - 1918), "Die Schäferin", op. 31 (Sechs Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 1, published 1898 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Kiesler [sung text not yet checked]
• by Carl Banck (1809 - 1889), "Die Wellen blinken und fließen dahin" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Rudolf Bella (1890 - 1973), "Es liebt sich so lieblich" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897), "Es liebt sich so lieblich im Lenze", op. 71 (Fünf Gesänge) no. 1, published 1877 [ voice and piano ], Berlin, Simrock [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Leopold Damrosch (1832 - 1885), "Frühling", op. 16 (Fünf Lieder) no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by August Enna (1859 - 1939), "Der Frühling", published 1896 [ tenor and piano ], from Zehn Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte, no. 1, Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
• by Don Forsythe (b. 1932), "Frühling", 2008, published c2008 [ high voice and piano ], from Romanzen, no. 13 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Robert Franz (1815 - 1892), "Frühling", op. 38 (Sechs Lieder von Heinrich Heine) no. 1 (1867?), published 1867 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gerald M. Ginsburg (b. 1932), "Volkslied", 2001, published c2003, from Aus Schmerzen zu Lieder, no. 18 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ferdinand Gumbert (1818 - 1896), "Es liebt sich so lieblich im Lenze", op. 62 (Drei Lieder) no. 1 (1854), published 1855 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], Berlin, Schlesinger  [sung text not yet checked]
• by Friedrich Hinrichs (1820 - 1892), "Romanze", op. 4 (Sechs Gedichte von Heinrich Heine) no. 1, published 1864 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], Leipzig, Breitkopf und Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
• by Andrés Isasi Linares (1890 - 1940), "Frühling", op. 16 (Poemas de H. Heine) no. 3 (1913), published 1913 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Alexander Petrovich Koptiaieff (1868 - 1941), "Frühling", op. 17 (Fünf Lieder) no. 2, note: also set in Russian [sung text not yet checked]
• by Nanna Liebmann , "Die Wellen blinken und fließen dahin" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Alfred von Lindheim, jun. , "Der Frühling", op. 6, published 1893 [ voice and piano ], from Neun Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung, no. 6, Wien, Doblinger [sung text not yet checked]
• by Alexander Campbell MacKenzie, Sir (1847 - 1935), "Die Wellen blinken und fließen dahin", op. 14 (Drei Lieder von H. Heine) no. 2, published 1877 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Kahnt [sung text not yet checked]
• by Émile Louis Victor Mathieu (1844 - 1932), "Die Wellen blinken und fließen dahin", from Trois ballades de Heine, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Rudolf Philipp , "Frühling", op. 2 (Sechs Lieder) no. 2, published 1879, Hamburg, Cranz [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir (1852 - 1924), "Frühling", op. 4 (Six Songs of Heine) no. 4, published 1876 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Wilhelm Stehle , "Die Wellen blinken und fließen dahin", op. 2 (Zwei Lieder) no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Julius von Stockhausen (1826 - 1906), "Die Wellen blinken und fließen dahin", from Lieder, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
• by (Karl Gottfried) Wilhelm Taubert (1811 - 1891), "Es liebt sich so lieblich im Lenze", op. 82 (Sechs Lieder) no. 2, published 1864 [ medium voice and piano ], Leipzig, Breitkopf und Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
• by Alfred Tofft (1865 - 1931), "Frühling", op. 2 (Heine-Album) no. 6, published 1887 [ voice and piano ], Kopenhagen, Hansen [sung text not yet checked]
• by Joh. C. Visser , "Frühling" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Karl Vollweiler (1813 - 1848), "Die Wellen blinken und fließen dahin", op. 45 (Vier Lieder) no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]

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

• DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "The waves flash and flow in", copyright ©
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "L'amour est si doux au printemps !", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 99

 The waves flash and flow in;
 Love is so lovely in Spring!
 By the river the shepherdess sits
 And weaves delicate crowns of wreaths.

 The budding, the streaming, the wafting, and blossoming -
  Love is so lovely in spring!
 The shepherdess sighs from deep in her bosom:
 "To whom shall I give my wreaths?"

 A horseman rides along the river:
 he greets her with radiant cheer,
 the shepherdess gazes at him shyly,
 and far in the distance the feather flutters in his cap.

 She weeps and throws into the gliding river
 those lovely wreaths of flowers.
 The nightingale sings of love and kisses;
 Love is so lovely in the spring!