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Ihr wandelt droben im Licht
Auf weichem Boden, selige Genien!
Glänzende Götterlüfte
Rühren euch leicht,
Wie die Finger der Künstlerin
Heilige Saiten.
Schicksallos, wie der schlafende
Säugling, atmen die Himmlischen;
Keusch bewahrt
In bescheidener Knospe,
Blühet ewig
Ihnen der Geist,
Und die seligen Augen
Blicken in stiller
Ewiger Klarheit.
Doch uns ist gegeben,
Auf keiner Stätte zu ruh'n;
Es schwinden, es fallen
Die leidenden Menschen
Blindlings von einer
Stunde [zur]1 andern,
Wie Wasser von Klippe
Zu Klippe geworfen,
Jahrlang in's Ungewisse hinab.
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• J. Brahms • F. Cerha • W. Fortner • J. Hauer • D. Smirnov • W. Steffens • E. WolffF. Cerha sets stanza 3
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Friedrich Hölderlin's Sämmtliche Werke, herausgegeben von Christoph Theodor Schwab, Erster Band: "Gedichte und Hyperion", Stuttgart und Tübingen, J. G. Cotta'scher Verlag, 1846, pages 122-123; note: the indentation shown above doesn't appear in this edition, but occurs in later editions.
Note: Hyperion is the title character of an unfinished novel in which Hölderlin wrote about the Greek struggle for independence from the Turks.
1 Cerha: "zu"Text Authorship:
- by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843), "Hyperions Schicksalslied", written 1798, appears in Gedichte 1784-1800 [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 Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897), "Hyperions Schicksalslied", alternate title: "Schicksalslied", op. 54 (1868), published 1872 [ SATB chorus and orchestra ], Berlin, Simrock [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Friedrich Cerha (b. 1926), "Doch uns ist gegeben", 1995, stanza 3, from Acht Sätze nach Hölderlin-Fragmenten, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Wolfgang Fortner (1907 - 1987), "Hyperions Schicksalslied", 1933 [ medium voice and piano ], from Vier Gesänge nach Worten von Hölderlin, no. 2, Schott Music [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Josef Matthias Hauer (1883 - 1959), "Hyperions Schicksalslied", op. 6 (Fünf Lieder) no. 2 (1914) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Gabriel Marcel (1889 - 1973), "Hyperion Schicksalslied", 1945-1946 [ voice and piano ], from Mélodies. Cahiers 3, no. 9 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Michael Ostrzyga (b. 1975), "Ihr wandelt droben im Licht", 2017 [ mixed chorus ], from Drift, Chorus XXI : Perspektiven neuer Chormusik [sung text not yet checked]
- by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020), "Hyperions Schicksalslied", op. 31 no. 4, published 1980, first performed 1981 [ voice and organ ], from Schicksalslieder (Pesny sud'by), no. 4, also set in Russian (Русский) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Walter Steffens (b. 1934), "Hyperions Schicksalslied", op. 95 no. 1 (2008) [ voice and piano ], from Fünf Gesänge auf Hölderlin für mittlere Gesangsstimme und Klavier, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Erich J. Wolff (1874 - 1913), "Hyperions Schicksalslied", op. 10 (Zwei Gesänge) no. 1, published 1907 [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Hélène de Wendel (1902 - 1986) , copyright © ; composed by Henri-Pierre Poupard, as Henri Sauguet.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
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- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020) ; composed by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Cançó del destí", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Hyperions noodlotslied", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , no title, copyright © 1995
- ENG English (John Glenn Paton) , "Hyperion's Song of Fate", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Canto del destino di Iperione", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 82
You wander above in the light
on soft ground, blessed genies!
Blazing, divine breezes
brush by you as lightly
as the fingers of the player
on her holy strings.
Fateless, like sleeping
infants, the divine beings breathe,
chastely protected
in modest buds,
blooming eternally
their spirits,
and their blissful eyes
gazing in mute,
eternal clarity.
Yet there is granted us
no place to rest;
we vanish, we fall -
the suffering humans -
blind from one
hour to another,
like water thrown from cliff
to cliff,
for years into the unknown depths.
About the headline (FAQ)
Translations of titles
"Hyperions Schicksalslied" = "Hyperion's song of Fate"
"Schicksalslied" = "Song of Fate"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 1995 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.
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Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843), "Hyperions Schicksalslied", written 1798, appears in Gedichte 1784-1800
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 90