To consecrate the day. Hymn for a nameday or birthday
(Poet's title: Des Tages Weihe. Hymne zur Namens- oder Geburtsfeier)
Set by Schubert:
D 763
for SATB quartet and piano[November 22, 1822]
Schicksalslenker, blicke nieder,
Auf ein dankerfülltes Herz,
Uns belebt die Freude wieder,
Fern entflohn ist jeder Schmerz;
Und das Leid, es ist vergessen,
Durch die Nebel strahlt der Glanz
Deiner Größe, unermessen,
Wie aus hellem Sternenkranz.
Liebevoll nahmst du der Leiden
Herben Kelch von Vaters Mund:
Darum ward in Fern und Weiten
Deine höchste Milde kund.
Schicksalslenker, blicke nieder,
Auf ein dankerfülltes Herz.
You who direct fate, look down
On a heart filled with gratitude,
Joy is reviving us again,
Every pain has fled far away.
And the suffering, it has been forgotten,
Through the mist shines the glow
Of your immeasurable greatness,
As if from a bright garland of stars.
You lovingly removed pain’s
Bitter cup from a father’s mouth,
Thus, far and wide
Your extreme gentleness was made known.
You who direct fate, look down
On a heart filled with gratitude.
All translations into English that appear on this website, unless otherwise stated, are by Malcolm Wren. You are free to use them on condition that you acknowledge Malcolm Wren as the translator and schubertsong.uk as the source. Unless otherwise stated, the comments and essays that appear after the texts and translations are by Malcolm Wren and are © Copyright.
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Themes and images in this text:
Cups and goblets Father and child Joy Mist and fog Pain Soothing and healing Songs for special occasions Stars
"Anna Fröhlich was a piano teacher at the Conservatorium, but she also taught privately at the home of one Baroness Geymüller. The baroness was particularly keen to have a poem set to music in honour of a friend named Ritter who had recently recovered from a serious illness. (Fröhlich had never met Herr Ritter and had no idea who he was, and neither do we to this day.) Fröhlich promised to ask Schubert on Barbara von Geymüller´s behalf if he would undertake the task. He did so, apparently composing the piece in a single day, and received fifty Gulden for his trouble." Graham Johnson, Franz Schubert. The Complete Songs Volume Two Yale University Press 2014 page 734
It appears therefore that it was not unusual in Vienna to perform a solemn act of gratitude to celebrate recovery after a long or serious illness. Only three years after ‘Des Tages Weihe’ Beethoven would write his own ‘Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart’ (Sacred song of thanks of a recuperating patient to the divinity, in the Lydian mode) in the form of the slow movement of his String Quartet Nr. 15 Opus 132.
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Original Spelling Des Tages Weihe Hymne zur Namens- oder Geburtsfeier Schicksalslenker, blicke nieder, Auf ein dankerfülltes Herz, Uns belebt die Freude wieder, Fern entfloh'n ist jeder Schmerz. Und das Leid, es ist vergessen, Durch die Nebel strahlt der Glanz Deiner Größe unermessen, Wie aus hellem Sternenkranz. Liebevoll nahmst du der Leiden Herben Kelch von Vaters Mund, Darum ward in Fern und Weiten Deine höchste Milde kund. Schicksalslenker, blicke nieder, Auf ein dankerfülltes Herz.
Note: The source of the text is unknown. This is the version published by Breitkopf & Härtel (Alte Gesamtausgabe) as conveyed in a copy of Schubert’s score kept in the Witteczek-Spaun collection (Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Wien); Schubert’s autograph is lost. The first edition by Diabelli (op. 146) prints a somewhat different text