Ob ich manchmal Dein gedenke? Wüßtest Du, wie [sehr]1 ich's thu', Dir auch noch die Schatten lenke Träumender Gedanken zu! Tag und Nacht, und alle Stunden,-- O [das]2 Alles sagt es nicht; Du, seitdem wir uns gefunden, [Bist's]3 allein, was aus mir spricht. Alles Andre seh' ich schweben Um mich her wie Traum und Schein. Dein [zu denken]4 ist mein Leben, Dich zu lieben ist mein Sein.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Christian Reinhold Köstlin’s poetry manuscripts, Z 4131, poem 31, Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach, Germany.
Note: in Jenner's song, in stanza 3, line 2, word 4 ("wie") becomes "in" in the repetition. Note: in Lang's first edition (1848), in stanza 1, line 3, word 6 ("lenke") was "lenken" and stanza 3, line 1, word 5 was "schwanken". These were corrected in the 2008 edition.
1 Jenner: "oft"2 Jenner, Lang: "dies"
3 Jenner: "Bist"
4 Lang: "gedenken"
Text Authorship:
- by Christian Reinhold (1813 - 1856), no title, subtitle: "9. März", written 1841 [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 Gustav Jenner (1865 - 1920), "Ob ich manchmal dein gedenke?", op. 4 (Elf Lieder für 1 hohe Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung) no. 11, published 1895 [ high voice and piano ], Berlin, Schlesinger [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Josephine Lang (1815 - 1880), "Ob ich manchmal Dein gedenke", op. 27 (Sechs deutsche Lieder) no. 3 (1841), published 1872 [ voice and piano ], Stuttgart, Ebner [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Sharon Krebs) (Harald Krebs) , copyright © 2006, (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: 67