LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,102)
  • Text Authors (19,442)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

×

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

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

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Translation © by Pierre Mathé

Da neigt sich die Stunde und rührt mich...
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG FRE
Da neigt sich die Stunde und rührt mich an
mit klarem, metallenem Schlag:
mir zittern die Sinne. Ich fühle: ich kann -
und ich fasse den plastischen Tag.

Nichts war [noch]1 vollendet, eh ich es erschaut,
ein jedes Werden stand still.
Meine Blicke sind reif, und wie eine Braut
kommt jedem das Ding, das er will.

Nichts ist mir zu klein, und ich lieb es trotzdem
und mal' es auf Goldgrund und groß,
und halte es hoch, und ich weiß nicht wem
löst es die Seele los...

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   S. Ebel 

S. Ebel sets stanzas 1-2

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Rainer Maria Rilke, Werke, kommentierte Ausgabe in vier Bänden, Band 1 Gedichte 1895 bis 1910, herausgegeben von Manfred Engel und Ulrich Fülleborn, Frankfurt am Main und Leipzig: Insel Verlag, 1996, page 157.

1 Omitted by Ebel.

Text Authorship:

  • by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Da neigt sich die Stunde", written 1899, appears in Das Stundenbuch, in 1. Das Buch vom mönchischen Leben , no. 1, first published 1905 [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 Ronald Joachim Autenrieth (b. 1959), "Nichts ist mir zu klein", published 2007 [ SATB chorus ], from Fünf Chöre nach Worten von Rainer Maria Rilke, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Herbert Blendinger (b. 1936), "Da neigt sich die Stunde", op. 53 no. 1 (1990), first performed 1991 [ baritone and piano ], from Vom mönchischen Leben, no. 1, Manuskript [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Martin Dörnberg (1920 - 2013), "Da neigt sich die Stunde", 1973/1986 [ soprano or piano or mixed chorus ], from 6 Lieder nach Rilkes Stundenbuch, no. 1, Manuskript; Freie Umgestaltung der Chorfassung von 1973 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Martin Dörnberg (1920 - 2013), "Da neigt sich die Stunde", 1973/1986 [ soprano, piano or mixed chorus ], from 6 Lieder nach Rilkes Stundenbuch, no. 2, Manuskript 1986. Freie Umgestaltung der Chorfassung von 1973. Gedichte aus Vom mönchischen Leben [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Steven Ebel , "Die Stunde ", 2010, stanzas 1-2 [ mezzo-soprano or tenor and piano ], from Der Schatzgräber, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Peter Escher (1915 - 2008), "Da neigt sich die Stunde", op. 76 no. 1 (1954), first performed 1955 [ tenor and piano ], from Vier Gesänge aus dem ersten Teil von Rainer Maria Rilkes Stondenbuch, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Chris Fictoor (b. 1948), "Die Stunde", 1999 [ soprano, alto, bass, chorus, orchestra ], from oratorio Rilke Lieder, no. 1, Ascolta [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Wilhelm Klepper (b. 1924), "Da neigt sich die Stunde", 2000 [ soprano and piano ], from Sechs Lieder, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Eugenia Manolides (b. 1975), "Da neigt sich die Stunde und rührt mich an", first performed 2002 [ soprano, chorus and orchestra ], from Tempel im Gehör I, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Lawrence Kenneth Moss (1927 - 2022), "Da neigt sich die Stunde und rührt mich an", 1963, rev. 1966, rev. 1977, from Three Rilke Songs, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Richard Strauß-König (b. 1930), "Da neigt sich die Stunde", 2003 [ baritone and piano ], from Die Blätter fallen, no. 3, Edition Dorh [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Regina Wittemeier (b. 1956), "Da neigt sich die Stunde", op. 34 (Ich lebe mein Leben in wachsenden Ringen) no. 3, published 2003 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Karl-Heinz Wolters (1929 - 1987), "Da neigt sich die Stunde", Wildt's Musikverlag Franz und Joseph Wild [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Hermann Wunsch (1884 - 1954), "Da neigt sich die Stunde" [ voice and orchestra ], from Rilke-Lieder, no. 1, Rob Forberg Musikverlag GmbH & Co [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, a translation by Annette LeSiege (1947 - 2012) , copyright © ; composed by Annette LeSiege.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
  • Also set in English, a translation by Babbette Deutsch (1895 - 1982) , "Now the hour bows down, it touches me, throbs", copyright © ; composed by David Matthews.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in English, a translation by Anita Barrows , copyright © and by Joanna Macy , copyright © ; composed by Brad Mehldau.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in English, a translation by Denise Levertov (1923 - 1997) , appears in Breathing the Water, copyright © [an adaptation] ; composed by Joan Szymko.
    • Go to the text.

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

  • ENG English (Walter A. Aue) , "The hour is turning", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Alors l'heure se penche et me touche", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 87

Alors l'heure se penche et me touche
Language: French (Français)  after the German (Deutsch) 
Alors l'heure se penche et me touche, 
d'un coup clair et métallique : 
mes sens en tremblent. Je sens que je peux -- 
et je saisis le jour malléable. 

Rien n'était achevé avant que je ne l'aie vu, 
tout devenir est immobile. 
Mes regards sont mûrs, et comme une épouse, 
arrive à chacun la chose qu'il veut. 

Rien n'est trop petit pour moi, je l'aime malgré tout, 
et le peins sur fond d'or, et en grand,
et l'élève bien haut, et je ne sais 
de qui il libère l'âme. 

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to French (Français) copyright © 2012 by Pierre Mathé, (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 Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Da neigt sich die Stunde", written 1899, appears in Das Stundenbuch, in 1. Das Buch vom mönchischen Leben , no. 1, first published 1905
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2013-01-22
Line count: 12
Word count: 87

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

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris