Comfort in tears | Why is it that you are so sad

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 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

Translation © by Emily Ezust

Wie kommt's, daß du so traurig bist

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT DUT ENG ITA

Wie kommt's, daß du so traurig bist,
Da alles froh erscheint?
Man sieht dir's an den Augen an,
Gewiß du hast geweint.

"Und hab' ich einsam auch geweint,
So ist's mein [eigner]¹ Schmerz,
Und Thränen fließen gar so süß,
Erleichtern mir das Herz."

Die frohen Freunde laden dich,
O komm an unsre Brust!
Und was du auch verloren hast,
[Vertraue]² den Verlust.

"Ihr lärmt und rauscht und ahnet nicht,
Was mich den Armen quält.
Ach nein, verloren hab' ich's nicht,
So sehr es mir auch fehlt."

So raffe dich denn eilig auf,
Du bist ein junges Blut.
In deinen Jahren hat man Kraft
Und zum Erwerben Muth.

"Ach nein, erwerben kann ich's nicht,
Es steht mir gar zu fern.
Es weilt so hoch, es blinkt so schön,
Wie droben jener Stern."

Die Sterne, die begehrt man nicht,
Man freut sich ihrer Pracht,
Und mit Entzücken blickt man auf
In jeder heitern Nacht.

"Und mit Entzücken blick' ich auf,
So manchen lieben Tag;
Verweinen laßt die Nächte mich,
So lang' ich weinen mag."

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• J. Brahms • C. Loewe • B. Randhartinger

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Goethe's Werke, Vollständige Ausgabe letzter Hand, Erster Band, Stuttgart und Tübingen, in der J.G.Cottaschen Buchhandlung, 1827, pages 96-97, and with Taschenbuch auf das Jahr 1804, Herausgegeben von Wieland und Goethe, Tübingen, in der Cotta'schen Buchhandlung, pages 115-116.

¹ Schubert (in the autograph): "eigen"
² Schubert (Friedlaender edition): "vertraure"

Text Authorship:

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), "Trost in Thränen", written 1801-02, first published 1804 [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 (Carl) Ludwig (Heinrich) Berger (1777 - 1839), "Trost in Tränen", op. 33 (Zwölf Gesänge) no. 3, published 1841 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Hofmeister [sung text not yet checked]
by Georg Friedrich Alexander, Graf von Blankensee (d. 1867), "Trost in Tränen" [sung text not yet checked]
by Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897), "Trost in Tränen", op. 48 (Sieben Lieder für eine Singstimme mit Begleitung des Pianoforte) no. 5 (1858), published 1868 [ voice and piano ], Berlin, Simrock [sung text checked 1 time]
by Peter Cornelius (1824 - 1874), "Trost in Tränen", op. 14 (1872) [sung text not yet checked]
by Friedrich Adrian Götzloff (d. 1836), "Trost in Tränen", c1809 [sung text not yet checked]
by Friedrich Heinrich Himmel (1765 - 1814), "Trost in Tränen", op. 38 (c1810) [ vocal duet for soprano and tenor with piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Alexis Holländer (1840 - 1924), "Wie kommt's, dass du so traurig bist", op. 6 (Sechs Lieder im Volkston, für mittlere Stimme ) no. 1, published 1864 [ medium voice and piano ], Leipzig, Breitkopf und Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
by Johann Christoph Kienlen (1783 - 1829), "Trost in Tränen", published 1812 [sung text not yet checked]
by Theodor Fürchtegott Kirchner (1823 - 1903), "Trost in Tränen", op. 69 (Vier Gedichte von Goethe) no. 2, published 1882 [ men's chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
by C. Klage , "Trost in Thränen", op. 25, published 1831 [ duet for soprano and bass with piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Immanuel Friedrich Knapp (1784 - 1817), "Trost in Tränen", published 1809, from Sechs Lieder von Goethe und Matthison, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
by Carl Loewe (1796 - 1869), "Trost in Tränen", op. 80, Heft 2 no. 2 (1836) [ vocal trio ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Carl Ludwig Amand Mangold (1813 - 1889), "Trost in Thränen", op. 71 (5 Goethe-Lieder für 1 mittlere Stimme mit Pianoforte) no. 5, published 1878 [ medium voice and piano ], from Fünf Goethe-Lieder für 1 mittlere Stimme mit Pianoforte, no. 5, Darmstadt, Thies [sung text not yet checked]
by Ignaz von Mosel (1772 - 1844), "Trost in Tränen", published 1823 [ voice and piano ], from Sechs Gedichte, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
by Emil Naumann (1827 - 1888), "Trost in Thränen", op. 31 no. 5, published 1878 [ voice and piano ], from Nachklänge. Sechs Gesänge für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung, no. 5, Berlin, Bote & Bock [sung text not yet checked]
by Sigismund von Neukomm (1778 - 1858), "Trost in Tränen", op. 10 (Sechs Gesänge) no. 2 (1808-9), published 1808-9 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
by Benedikt Randhartinger (1802 - 1893), "Trost in Tränen" [sung text checked 1 time]
by Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752 - 1814), "Trost in Tränen", published 1805-6 [sung text not yet checked]
by Adolf Reichel (1820 - 1896), "Trost in Thränen", op. 67 (Vier Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 3, published 1885 [ voice and piano ], Bern, Methfessel [sung text not yet checked]
by Karl Gottlieb Reissiger (1798 - 1859), "Trost in Tränen", op. 48 (Deutsche Lieder von W. v. Göthe für eine Sopran- oder Tenorstimme ) no. 1, published [1827?] [ soprano or tenor and piano ], Berlin: Bei Fr. Laue [sung text not yet checked]
by Wilhelm Friedrich Riem (1779 - 1837), "Wechselgesang", op. 9 no. 1, published [c1809] [ voice and piano ], from Vier Gesänge mit Begleitung des Pianoforte von W. F. Riem, no. 1, Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel ; the song begins with stanza 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Trost in Tränen", D 120 (1814), published 1835 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Johann Xaver Sterkel (1750 - 1817), "Trost in Tränen" [ voice and piano ], from Sechs Gesänge mit Begleitung des Piano Forte, 9te Sammlung, no. 3, Augsburg: In der Gombart'schen Musikhandlung [sung text not yet checked]
by Wilhelm Tappert (1830 - 1907), "Trost in Thränen", op. 16 (Vier Gesänge für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 4, published 1876 [ voice and piano ], Berlin, Paez [sung text not yet checked]
by Otto Tiehsen (1817 - 1849), "Trost in Thränen", op. 6 no. 5, published 1840 [ voice and piano ], from Sieben Gedichte von Göthe, Heine, Uhland, Burns und W. Müller, no. 5, Berlin, Trautwein [sung text not yet checked]
by Václav Jan Křtitel Tomášek (1774 - 1850), "Trost in Tränen", op. 53 (Gedichte von Goethe: I) no. 5 (1815?) [sung text not yet checked]
by August Heinrich von Weyrauch (1788 - 1865), "Trost in Tränen" [sung text not yet checked]
by Karl Friedrich Zelter (1758 - 1832), "Trost in Tränen", 1803 [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky (1783 - 1852) ; composed by Nikolay Ivanovich Bakhmetyev, Aleksandr Sergeyevich Dargomyzhsky, Ivan Ivanovich Ignatiev, Nikolai Alexeyevich Titov, Nikolai Sergeyevich Titov.
- Go to the text.

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

ENG English (Edgar Alfred Bowring) , "Comfort in tears", appears in The Poems of Goethe, first published 1853
FRE French (Français) (Gérard Labrunie) , "Consolation dans les larmes"

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: 32
Word count: 172

Comfort in tears

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Why is it that you are so sad
When everything seems happy?
One can see from your eyes
That you have surely been weeping.

"And if I have been weeping alone,
It is my own sorrow,
And my tears flow so sweetly
That they make my heart light."

Your happy friends invite you,
O come to our bosom!
And whatever you have lost,
Confide in us your loss.

"You make noise and rush about and cannot understand
What it is that torments me, poor me.
And no, I have not lost anything,
Although I also lack it."

Then pick yourself up - hurry,
You are a young fellow.
At your age, one has the strength
And courage to gain what one wishes.

"Alas, no - I can never obtain it;
It is too far from me.
It dwells as high and flashes as beautifully
As that star up there."

One should not covet the stars,
One should merely rejoice in their splendour,
And with delight gaze up
At every serene night.

"And so I gaze up with delight
At so many a lovely day;
Let my nights then be spent in weeping,
So long as I may weep."

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust
Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:
Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
from the LiederNet Archive -- https://www.lieder.net/
For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.
licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), "Trost in Thränen", written 1801-02, first published 1804
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 196

New Feature Alert

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