Text & Translation
Meeres Stille
(1795)
German source:
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Ohne Regung ruht das Meer,
Und bekümmert sieht der Schiffer
Glatte Fläche rings umher.
Keine Luft von keiner Seite!
Todesstille fürchterlich!
In der ungeheueren Weite
Reget keine Welle sich.
Calm Sea
English translation ©
Richard Wigmore
the sea lies motionless;
anxiously the sailor beholds
the glassy surface all around.
No breeze from any quarter!
A fearful, deathly calm!
In the vast expanse
no wave stirs.
Meeres Stille
(1795)
German source:
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Calm Sea
English source:
Richard Wigmore
Tiefe Stille herrscht im Wasser,
Profound calm reigns over the waters,
Ohne Regung ruht das Meer,
the sea lies motionless;
Und bekümmert sieht der Schiffer
anxiously the sailor beholds
Glatte Fläche rings umher.
the glassy surface all around.
Keine Luft von keiner Seite!
No breeze from any quarter!
Todesstille fürchterlich!
A fearful, deathly calm!
In der ungeheueren Weite
In the vast expanse
Reget keine Welle sich.
no wave stirs.
Composer
Václav Tomášek
Václav Jan Křtitel Tomášek (17 April 1774 – 3 April 1850) was an Austrian-Bohemian, by other accounts a Czech composer and music teacher.
Poet
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang Goethe was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on…