Lied (Brüder, schrecklich brennt die Träne), D 535

Song

(Poet's title: Lied)

Set by Schubert:

  • D 535
    for soprano and small orchestra

    [February 1817]

Lied

Brüder, schrecklich brennt die Träne,
Die verschämte Armut weint,
Findet diese Jammerszene
Unter uns wohl keinen Freund?
Der Verzweiflung preisgegeben
Ringt die welken Hände sie,
Kommt, erleichtert heut ihr Leben
Durch des Mitleids Sympathie.

Song

Brothers, this tear-drop is burning terribly,
Embarrassed poverty is crying;
Will this scene of distress find
No friend even amongst us?
Given over to despair,
She wrings her withered hands;
Come on, make her life easier today
Through the sympathy of compassion.

Themes and images in this text:

FriendsHandsPainTears and crying



The author of this text has not yet been identified. The nature of the sentiments and the fact that Schubert set the text for a soprano and a small band of strings and woodwind suggest that it was prepared for some specific fund-raising occasion. The Deutsch catalogue speculates that it was intended to support the Vienna Orphanage or the ‘Verein für verschämte Arme’ (‘the Association for the embarrassed poor’, perhaps referred to in line 2, Die verschämte Armut). It may have been prepared for an event very similar to the one where Schubert’s Cantata in Honour of Josef Spendou (D472) was first performed in September 1816. The author is unlikely to have been Hoheisel (who wrote the text of the Cantata), however. Anyone with a smattering of the classics would have avoided the tautology of the final line: the sympathy (Sympathie) of compassion (des Mitleids) hardly makes much sense!

Original Spelling

Lied

Brüder, schrecklich brennt die Träne, 
Die verschämte Armut weint; 
Findet diese Jammerszene 
Unter uns wohl keinen Freund? 
Der Verzweiflung preisgegeben 
Ringt die welken Hände sie; 
Kommt, erleichtert heut' ihr Leben 
Durch des Mitleids Sympathie.