Secret. To Franz Schubert | Oh say, who learns thee ditties

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by Johann Baptist Mayrhofer (1787 - 1836)

Translation © by Yuxin (Sheila) Zhang

Sag an, wer lehrt dich Lieder

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT DUT ENG ENG FRE

Sag an, wer lehrt dich Lieder,
So schmeichelnd und so zart?
Sie [zaubern]¹ einen Himmel
Aus trüber Gegenwart.
Erst lag das Land, verschleyert,
Im Nebel vor uns da -
Du singst - und Sonnen leuchten,
Und Frühling ist uns nah.

Den [Alten, Schilfbekränzten]²,
Der seine Urne gießt,
Erblickst du nicht, nur Wasser,
Wie's durch die Wiesen fließt.
So geht es auch dem Sänger,
Er [singt und]³ staunt in sich;
Was still ein Gott bereitet,
Befremdet ihn, wie dich.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• F. Schubert

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Gedichte von Johann Mayrhofer. Wien. Bey Friedrich Volke. 1824, page 9; and with Conversationblatt. Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Unterhaltung. Dritter Jahrgang. 1821. Nr. 69. (Wien, Mittwoch den 29. August) Im Verlage der Gerold'schen Buchhandlung, page 821.

Note: Schubert received Mayrhofer's texts generally in handwriting; the printed edition of Mayrhofer's poems appeared much later and presents the texts usually in a revised version.

¹ Schubert: "rufen"
² Schubert: "schilfbekränzten Alten"
³ Schubert: "singt, er"

Text Authorship:

by Johann Baptist Mayrhofer (1787 - 1836), "Geheimniß", subtitle: "An F. Schubert" [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 Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Geheimnis", D 491 (1816), published 1887 [ voice, piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 80

Secret. To Franz Schubert

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Oh say, who learns thee ditties,
so flatt'ring and so fine?
They conjure up a heaven
from present gloom and whine.
The land at first lay shrouded
in mist before us there -
thou sing - and sunbeams shine down,
and springtime's in the air.

The reed-coronalled old man 
who out his vessel pours
thou never see; but water 
that through the meadows draws.
So goes it with the singer:
he sings, and awed is he;
what God's in silence fashioned
perplexes him and thee.

Text Authorship:

Singable translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2012 by Yuxin (Sheila) Zhang, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Yuxin (Sheila) Zhang. Contact: sheilazyx (AT) yahoo (DOT) com
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Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Johann Baptist Mayrhofer (1787 - 1836), "Geheimniß", subtitle: "An F. Schubert"
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2012-05-26
Line count: 16
Word count: 83