Du bist die Ruh

 

Du bist die Ruh - (2010)     

Friedrich Rückert

for high or medium voice and piano

 
Du bist die Ruh,
Der Friede mild,
Die Sehnsucht du
Und was sie stillt.
Ich weihe dir
Voll Lust und Schmerz
Zur Wohnung hier
Mein Aug und Herz.
Kehr ein bei mir,
Und schliesse du
Still hinter dir
Die Pforten zu.
Treib andern Schmerz
Aus dieser Brust!
Voll sei dies Herz
Von deiner Lust.
Dies Augenzelt
Von deinem Glanz
Allein erhellt,
O füll es ganz!

[ 2 pages, circa 3' 50" ]

Friedrich Rückert

 

You are my rest,
And gentle peace,
Your are yearning
As yearnings cease.
I treasure you
Though joy, through pain;
I bide by you
Till days all wane.
Turn unto me
And lock away
The world without
And yesterday.
Drive daily grief
From this, my breast!
My heart is buoyed
And by you blessed.
Embrace me then
With eyes, with heart
To lighten life
By your dear art!

 

paraphrase by the composer

 

 

The setting is available for high and medium voices, the lowest range of the piano precluding a lower transposition for this particular reliance on the lower range of the instrument. As the text is of short phrases, so is the vocal line. The text is broken into three parts, unequally, such that the last strophe of the setting reprises the first lines of poem as its last couplet.

 

 

The score for Du bist die Ruh is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this piano-vocal score.

 

Du bist die Ruh - high edition in G major

 

Du bist die Ruh - medium edition in E major