Duty and love
(Poet's title: Pflicht und Liebe)
Set by Schubert:
D 467
[August 1816]
Du, der ewig um mich trauert,
Nicht allein, nicht unbedauert,
Jüngling, seufzest du;
Wann vor Schmerz die Seele schauert,
Lüget meine Stirne Ruh.
Deines nassen Blickes Flehen
Will ich, darf ich nicht verstehn;
Aber zürne nicht,
Was ich fühle, zu gestehen,
Untersagt mir meine Pflicht.
Unbekannt mit Reu’ und Leide,
Wie die Lämmchen auf der Weide,
Spielten ich und du.
Jeder Tag rief uns zur Freude,
Jede Nacht zur sanften Ruh.
Ewig sind wir nun geschieden!
Damon, liebst du Philaiden,
Fleuch ihr Angesicht!
Nimm ihr nicht der Tage Frieden,
Und der Nächte Schlummer nicht!
Freund, schweif aus mit deinen Blicken!
Lass dich die Natur entzücken,
Die dir sonst gelacht!
Ach, sie wird auch mich beglücken,
Wenn sie dich erst glücklich macht.
Trauter Jüngling, lächle wieder!
Sieh, beim Gruße froher Lieder,
Steigt die Sonn’ empor!
Trübe sank sie gestern nieder;
Herrlich geht sie heut’ hervor.
You who are always grieving for me,
You are not alone, you are not unpitied,
Young man, when you sigh;
When my soul shudders with pain
The calm on my forehead is a lie.
The pleading of your moist eyes
Is something that I will not, I may not understand;
But do not be angry!
What I feel cannot be confessed,
My duty forbids me to do so.
Strangers to regret or pain,
Like little lambs in the meadow,
You and I used to play.
Each day called us to joy,
Each night to gentle rest.
We are now separated for ever!
Damon, if you love Phillida
Flee from her sight!
Do not take away her peace during the day
Or her sleep at night-time!
Friend, stop looking in this direction!
Allow yourself to be delighted by nature,
Which has always smiled on you!
Oh, it will make me happy too
If it ever makes you happy.
Dear young man, smile again!
Look, as merry songs greet it
The sun is rising!
Yesterday it set amongst clouds,
But it is coming forth majestically today.
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:
Eternity Evening and the setting sun Faces Fields and meadows Games and play Morning and morning songs Pain Sighs and sighing Soul Songs (general)
Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter, the author of this poem, was a well-known dramatist and librettist, who also had a reputation for delivering powerful dramatic monologues. We should probably therefore imagine this text being delivered as a rather over-the-top performance in a drawing room as the male author takes on the persona of the upright girl. She needs to turn down the advances of her childhood sweetheart in order to obey her father’s injunction that she marry someone else. Imagine how impressed we, members of the select audience, would be as the author conveyed all the deep pain that the girl has had to repress as she watches her lover sighing for what cannot be whilst also maintaining the necessary mask of propriety. We have to admire the performer’s ability to express the contradiction between love and duty whilst also recognising that she has managed to resolve the situation through moral integrity.
It would be interesting to know who the expected readership of such texts was supposed to be. On the surface level, it is an admonition to young men who have been rejected to get over their disappointment and move on, but there was probably a deeper rhetorical purpose. Female readers were being invited to admire a model of ‘true’ femininity, someone who has decided to put her own affections aside and submit to the economic and social expectations of patriarchy. She has to learn that the lad she has grown up and felt comfortable with is not ‘good enough’ for her. She has to learn that the poker face of polite society is what is needed from now on. Inner turmoils are all very well, but they are to be kept in the world of private reading and ‘nice’ poetry, they are not something to be put on display.
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Original Spelling Pflicht und Liebe Du, der ewig um mich trauert, Nicht allein, nicht unbedauert, Jüngling, seufzest du; Wann vor Schmerz die Seele schauert, Lüget meine Stirne Ruh. Deines nassen Blickes Flehen Will ich, darf ich nicht verstehen; Aber zürne nicht! Was ich fühle, zu gestehen, Untersagt mir meine Pflicht. Unbekannt mit Reu' und Leide, Wie die Lämmchen auf der Weide, Spielten ich und du. Jeder Tag rief uns zur Freude, Jede Nacht zur sanften Ruh. Ewig sind wir nun geschieden! Damon, liebst du Philaiden, Fleuch ihr Angesicht! Nimm ihr nicht der Tage Frieden, Und der Nächte Schlummer nicht! Freund, schweif' aus mit deinen Blicken! Laß dich die Natur entzücken, Die dir sonst gelacht! Ach, sie wird auch mich beglücken, Wenn sie dich erst glücklich macht. Trauter Jüngling, lächle wieder! Sieh, beym Gruße froher Lieder, Steigt die Sonn' empor! Trübe sank sie gestern nieder; Herrlich geht sie heut' hervor.
Confirmed by Peter Rastl with Schubert’s probable source, Gedichte von Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter. Wien, 1816. Bey Chr. Kaulfuß und C. Armbruster (Meisterwerke deutscher Dichter und Prosaisten. Fünfzehntes Bändchen), pages 14-15; and with Gedichte von Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter. Erster Band. Gotha, bey Carl Wilhelm Ettinger, 1787, pages 12-14.
Note: Schubert’s autograph breaks off at the end of the second stanza. One may assume that he set the poem as a through-composed song with different music for the subsequent stanzas. Max Friedlaender, the editor of the first edition, completed the fragment in the form of a stanzaic song by adding a short interlude/postlude and inserting stanzas 5 and 6.
To see an early edition of the text, go to page 14 [34 von 378] here: http://digital.onb.ac.at/OnbViewer/viewer.faces?doc=ABO_%2BZ157692909