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Mein Herz, mein Herz ist traurig, doch lustig leuchtet der Mai; ich stehe, gelehnt an der Linde, hoch auf der alten Bastei. Da drunten fließt der blaue Stadtgraben in stiller Ruh; ein Knabe fährt im Kahne, und angelt und pfeift dazu. Jenseits erheben sich freundlich, in winziger, bunter Gestalt, Lusthäuser, und Gärten, und Menschen, und Ochsen, und Wiesen, und Wald. Die Mägde bleichen Wäsche, und springen im Gras herum; das Mühlrad stäubt Diamanten, ich höre sein fernes Gesumm. Am alten grauen Turme ein Schilderhäuschen steht; ein rotgeröckter Bursche dort auf und nieder geht. Er spielt mit seiner Flinte, die funkelt im Sonnenrot, er präsentiert und schultert - ich wollt, er schösse mich tot.
H. Henze sets stanzas 5-6
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Text Authorship:
- by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856), no title, appears in Buch der Lieder, in Die Heimkehr, no. 3 [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 Hans Werner Henze (1926 - 2012), "Heimkehr", published 1974, stanzas 5-6 [ tenor, alto flute, English horn, clarinet in B-flat, bassoon, horn in F, trumpet in c, trombone, timpani, violin/viola, viola, cello, bass ], from Stimmen, no. 9 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ludwig Rottenberg (1864 - 1932), "Mein Herz, mein Herz ist traurig", published 1914, from Zwölf Lieder von Heinrich Heine, no. 9 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Erich Schröder , "Mein Herz, mein Herz ist traurig", published 2007, from Traumbilder, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Rudi Spring (b. 1962), "Mein Herz, mein Herz ist traurig", op. 17 no. 3 (1983), published 2002, rev. 1997 [ tenor and piano ], from Vier Lieder nach Gedichten von Heinrich Heine, no. 3, München (Munich), Verlag vierdreiunddreissig [sung text not yet checked]
- by Franz Adolf Succo (1802 - 1879), "Lied", op. 3 (Fünf deutsche Lieder von Freiligrath, Uhland, Heine und Schirmer) no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Johann Vesque von Püttlingen (1803 - 1883), "Auf der Bastei", op. 39 (Sechs Gedichte von Heine) no. 5, published 1851, from Die Heimkehr : 88 Gedichte aus H. Heine's Reisebildern, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "My heart, my heart is mournful", copyright ©
- ENG English (Emma Lazarus) , appears in Poems and Ballads of Heinrich Heine, first published 1881
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2009, (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: 24
Word count: 112
My heart, my heart is mournful, yet May glows so blithely; I stand leaning against the linden high upon the old bastion. Far below flows the blue moat in quiet peace; a boy is floating in a rowboat, fishing and whistling there. Farther along there rises a welcoming sight, in diminutive, colorful guise: pavilions and gardens and people and oxen and fields and woods. The maidens are bleaching their laundry, and skipping about in the grass; the millwheel is churning out dust like diamonds: I hear its distant hum. By the old grey tower a sentry-box stands; a lad dressed in red is pacing there, back and forth. He is toying with his musket that gleams in the sunset's rays, presenting and then shouldering it; I wish he would shoot me dead.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust
Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:
Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
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Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856), no title, appears in Buch der Lieder, in Die Heimkehr, no. 3
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 132