Wie erhebt sich das Herz, wenn es dich,
Unendlicher, denkt! wie sinkt es,
[Wenns]1 auf sich herunterschaut!
Elend [schauts]2 wehklagend dann, und Nacht und Tod!

Allein du rufst mich aus meiner Nacht, der im Elend, der im [Tod]3 hilft!
Dann denk ich es ganz, daß du ewig mich schufst,
Herlicher! den kein Preis, unten am Grab', oben am Thron,
Herr [Herr]4 Gott, den dankend entflamt, kein Jubel genug besingt.

Weht, Bäume des Lebens, ins Harfengetön!
Rausche mit ihnen ins Harfengetön, krystallner Strom!
Ihr lispelt und rauscht, und, Harfen, ihr tönt
Nie es ganz! Gott ist es, den ihr preist!

[Donnert, Welten, in feyerlichem Gang, in der Posaunen Chor!
Du Orion, Wage, du auch!]5
Tönt all' ihr Sonnen auf der Straße voll Glanz,
In der Posaunen Chor!

Ihr Welten, [donnert]6
[Und du]7, der Posaunen Chor, hallest
Nie es ganz, Gott; nie es ganz, Gott,
Gott, Gott ist es, den ihr preist!

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Klopstocks Oden. Erster Band. Leipzig bey Georg Joachim Göschen. 1798, pages 191-192; and with Oden von Klopstock. WIEN, gedruckt bey Joh. Thomas Edlen von Trattnern, k.k. Hofdruckern und Buchhändlern. 1784, pages 5859.

¹ Schubert: "Wenn es"
² Schubert (1st version only): "schaut"
³ Schubert: "Tode"
⁴ omitted by Schubert
⁵ Schubert: "Welten, donnert, in feierlichem Gang, / Welten donnert in der Posaunen Chor" (3rd version "im feierlichen" instead of "in feierlichem")
⁶ Schubert: "ihr donnert"
⁷ Schubert: "Du"

Text Authorship:

• by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724 - 1803), "Dem Unendlichen", written 1764 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Georg Nägeli (1773 - 1836), "Dem Unendlichen" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Dem Unendlichen", D 291 (1815), published 1895 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "A l'Infinit", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Aan de Oneindige", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "To the Infinite One", copyright ©
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "À l'Infini", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

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: 20
Word count: 158

 How does the heart soar, when it thinks of you,
 Infinite One! How it sinks 
 when it looks down on itself!
 Wretched, it laments as it sees only night and death! 

 Alone, you call me from my night, that helps Misery and Death!
 Then I realize that you have made me eternal,
 Lord, whom no praise above the grave or by the throne, 
 Lord God, no grateful glow, no jubilation, can be sufficient!

 Blow, trees of life, in the echoing tones of harps!
 Rustle with the sound of harps, crystal stream!
 You whisper and rustle, and, harps, you resound
 but never fully! It is God whom you praise!

 Thunder, worlds,
 in solemn course, to the chorus of trumpets!
 Resound, all you suns, upon the shining streets,
 to the chorus of the trumpets!

 You worlds, thunder,
 and you, chorus of trumpets, echo
 but never fully: God - never fully: God,
 God it is whom you praise!