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Songs

Songs

Schmerzen (1858) WWV 91

Part of a series or song cycle:

Wesendonck Lieder (WWV 91)

Schmerzen

Mathilde Wesendonck

Sonne, weinest jeden Abend
Dir die Schönen Augen rot,
Wenn im Meeresspiegel badend
Dich erreicht der frühe Tod;
Doch erstehst in alter Pracht,
Glorie der düstren Welt,
Du am Morgen, neu erwacht,
Wie ein stolzer Siegesheld!
Ach, wie sollte ich da klagen,
Wie, mein Herz, so schwer dich sehn,
Muß die Sonne selbst verzagen,
Muß die Sonne untergehn?
Und gebieret Tod nur Leben,
Geben Schmerzen Wonnen nur:
O wie dank'ich daß gegeben
Solche Schmerzen mir Natur.

Agonies

English Translation © Richard Stokes

Every evening, sun, you redden
Your lovely eyes with weeping,
When, bathing in the sea,
You die an early death;
Yet you rise in your old splendour,
The glory of the dark world,
When you wake in the morning
As a proud and conquering hero!
Ah, why should I complain,
Why should I see you, my heart, so depressed,
If the sun itself must despair,
If the sun itself must set?
If only death gives birth to life,
If only agony brings bliss:
O how I give thanks to Nature
For giving me such agony!

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Composer

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, theatre director, and conductor. 


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Poet

Mathilde Wesendonck

Mathilde Wesendonck (23 December 1828 – 31 August 1902) was a German poet and author. The words of five of her verses were the basis of her friend Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder. 

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