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It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

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by Franz Adolf Friedrich von Schober (1796 - 1882)
Translation © by T. P. (Peter) Perrin

Schiffers Scheidelied
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  CAT DUT ENG FRE ITA
Die Wogen am Gestade schwellen,
  Es klatscht der Wind im Segeltuch,
Und murmelt in den weißen Wellen;
  Ich höre seinen wilden Spruch:
[Er]1 ruft mich fort, es winkt [mir]2 der Kahn,
Vor Ungeduld schaukelnd, auf weite Bahn.

Dort streckt sie sich in öder Ferne,
  Du kannst nicht mit, siehst du, mein Kind.
Wie leicht versinken meine Sterne,
  Wie leicht erwächst zum Sturm der Wind,
Dann droht in tausend Gestalten der Tod,
Wie trotzt ich ihm, wüßt ich dich in Noth?

O löse deiner Arme Schlinge
  Und löse auch von mir dein Herz;
Weiß ich es denn, ob ich's vollbringe
  Und siegreich kehre heimathwärts?
Die Welle, die jetzt so lockend singt,
Vielleicht ist's dieselbe, die mich verschlingt.

Noch ist's in deine Hand gegeben,
  Noch gingst du nichts unlösbar ein,
O trenne schnell dein junges Leben
  Von meinem ungewissen Seyn.
O wolle, [wolle]3, bevor du mußt,
Entsagung ist leichter als Verlust!

[Und]4 laß mich im Bewußtseyn steuern,
  Daß ich allein auf Erden bin,
Dann beugt sich vor dem Ungeheuern,
  Vorm Unerhörten nicht mein Sinn.
Ich treibe mit dem Entsetzen Spiel
Und stehe plötzlich vielleicht am Ziel.

Denn hoch auf meiner [Maste]5 Spitzen
  Wird stets dein Bild begeisternd stehn,
Und, angeflammet von den Blitzen,
  Mit seinem Glanz den Muth erhöhn;
[Und hausen die Winde]6 auch noch so bang,
[Sie übertäuben]7 nicht deiner Stimme Klang.

Und kann ich dich nur sehn und hören,
  [So]8 hat's mit mir noch keine Noth,
Das Leben will ich nicht entbehren,
  Und kämpfen [werd]9 ich mit dem Tod.
Wie würde mir [je]10 eine Welt zur Last,
Die Engel so schön wie dich umfaßt?

Auch du sollst nicht mein Bild zerschlagen,
  Mit Freundschaftsthränen weih es ein,
Es soll in Schmerz- und Freudetagen
  Dein Trost und dein Vertrauter seyn.
Ja bleibe, wenn mich auch alles verließ,
Mein Freund im heimischen Paradies.

Und spült dann auch die falsche Welle
  Mich todt zurück zum Blumenstrand,
So weiß ich doch an lieber Stelle
  Noch eine, eine treue Hand,
Der weder Verachtung noch Schmerz es wehrt,
Daß sie meinen Resten ein Grab bescheert.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   F. Schubert 

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Gedichte von Franz von Schober. Stuttgart und Tübingen. J. G. Cotta'scher Verlag. 1842, pages 36-38; and with Gedichte von Franz von Schober. Zweite, vermehrte Auflage. Leipzig Verlagsbuchhandlung von J. J. Weber. 1865, pages 47-49.

Note: Schubert received all poems from Schober in handwritten form. A (possibly later) autograph of this poem is kept in the Vienna City Library.

1 Schubert: "Es"
2 omitted by Schubert
3 Schubert: "o wolle"
4 Schubert: "O"
5 Schubert: "Masten"
6 Schober (manuscript, and 1865 edition): "Und heulen die Winde"; Schubert: "Der Winde Heulen,"
7 Schubert: "Übertäubet"
8 Schubert: "Dann"
9 Schober (manuscript), and Schubert: "will"
10 Schober (manuscript): "wohl"; omitted by Schubert

Text Authorship:

  • by Franz Adolf Friedrich von Schober (1796 - 1882), "Schiffers Scheidelied" [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), "Schiffers Scheidelied", D 910 (1827), published 1833 [ voice, piano ], A. Diabelli & Co., VN 4272 Wien (Nachlaß-Lieferung 24) [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "La cançó de comiat del mariner", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Afscheidslied van de schipper", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (T. P. (Peter) Perrin) , "Sailor's parting song", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Chant d'adieu du marin", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Amelia Maria Imbarrato) , "Canto d'addio del marinaio", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Lau Kanen [Guest Editor] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 54
Word count: 349

Sailor's parting song
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
The breakers swarm against the shore,
wind slaps the sail-canvas,
the foamy waves are murmuring,
I hark to their wild oration.
It summons me.  The dory beckons,
tossing, impatient for a route far away.
 
It stretches to utmost bare distance.
You can't come too, my child -- you see
how easily my stars fail to guide,
how easily storm whips up wind;
how could I face death in its thousand shapes
if I knew you were in danger?
 
O free me from your clasping arms
and from your heart, too, set me free.
Do I even know if I'll succeed
and turn towards home victorious?
The wave whose song now lures me forth
may be the same that devours me.
 
It still is held in your own hands,
you are not irreparably committed.
Cut your young life loose at once
from the risks that dwell in mine.
O choose, choose before you have to;
renouncing is easier than to be lost.
 
O let me steer in certain knowledge
that on earth I am alone,
for then my senses will not cringe
at any unimagined terrors.
I'll play a gambling game with fear
and may, abruptly, reach my goal.
 
For hearteningly, atop my mast,
your image will be always seen,
and, by lightning flashes lit,
its brightness will lift my courage up.
The winds, though they howl fearfully,
will not drown out your voice's sound.
 
If I can only see and hear you,
then I have need of nothing more.
I will not dispense with life
and will still contend with death.
How could a world be burdensome
that holds angels as fair as you?
 
You too must not destroy my image,
but hallow it in friendship's tears;
that it, in times of pain and joy,
may be your comfort and close companion.
Remain, even when I lose all else,
my friend in paradise at home.
 
And if an evil wave should wash
my corpse back on the floral shore,
I know, in that loved place, there still
will be one, one devoted hand
that neither disdain nor pain can keep
from giving my remains a grave.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2012 by T. P. (Peter) Perrin, (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 Franz Adolf Friedrich von Schober (1796 - 1882), "Schiffers Scheidelied"
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2012-07-03
Line count: 54
Word count: 355

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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