Lyrics to "Bist du bei mir?"

Peter Hudston

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Mar 20, 1998, 3:00:00 AM3/20/98

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Hi. I was wondering if someone out there could direct me to a site that has the lyrics to "Bist du bei mir?",
or even the English lyrics.

Thanks

Peter Hudston

Ben Crick

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Mar 21, 1998, 3:00:00 AM3/21/98

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In article <6ev5ep$2ir$1...@tor-nn1.netcom.ca>, phud...@netcom.ca (Peter

Hudston) wrote:
> I was wondering if someone out there could direct me to a site that has
> the lyrics to "Bist du bei mir?", or even the English lyrics.

Yes, Peter. Go no further than here! (||:----:|| musical repeat bars)

||: Bist du bei mir, geh' ich mit Freuden
Zum Sterben und zu meiner Ruh',
Zum Sterben und zu meiner Ruh'. :||

||: Ach wie vergnügt wär' so mein Ende:
Es drückten deine schönen Hände
Mir die getreuen Augen zu. :||

Bist du bei mir, geh' ich mit Freuden
Zum Sterben und zu meiner Ruh',
Zum Sterben und zu meiner Ruh'.

Which is being interpreted

||: Be Thou with me, my joy and gladness:
In deep repose my soul shall rest,
My soul shall rest in deep repose. :||

||: My heart is glad when Thou art near me:
My eyelids closed by Thy tender hands,
My eyes with love will rest on Thee. :||

Be Thou with me, my joy and gladness,
In deep repose my soul shall rest,
My soul shall rest in deep repose.

German text anonymous; English version by Bernard Taylor.
Copyright (C) MCMLVIII by G Schirmer, Inc., USA. (No 44419C)

> Thanks

You're welcome.

--
Ben Crick <ben....@argonet.co.uk> ZFC Gd
Acorn RiscPC 700, 37 MB, not yet StrongArm, USR 14.4
Coming to you from Birchington near Margate in Kent.

Bernard S. Greenberg

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Mar 21, 1998, 3:00:00 AM3/21/98

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Ben Crick wrote:
>
> In article <6ev5ep$2ir$1...@tor-nn1.netcom.ca>, phud...@netcom.ca (Peter
> Hudston) wrote:
> > I was wondering if someone out there could direct me to a site that has
> > the lyrics to "Bist du bei mir?", or even the English lyrics.
>

This should have been posted to alt.music.g-h-stoelzel ...:)

--
Remove the spamblocks from my address above to reply to me. I apologize
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Help stop junk email from killing our INTERNET-see http://www.cauce.org
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wrsh...@erols.com

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Mar 22, 1998, 3:00:00 AM3/22/98

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In article <351429F7...@basistech.dontspamme.com>,

"Bernard S. Greenberg" <spamme...@basistech.dontspamme.com> wrote:
>
> Ben Crick wrote:
> >
> > In article <6ev5ep$2ir$1...@tor-nn1.netcom.ca>, phud...@netcom.ca (Peter
> > Hudston) wrote:
> > > I was wondering if someone out there could direct me to a site that has
> > > the lyrics to "Bist du bei mir?", or even the English lyrics.
> >
>
> This should have been posted to alt.music.g-h-stoelzel ...:)

I disagree. The proper place for this posting is alt.music.j-s-bach, simply
because, although Stölzel is the correct composer, the reason for the
misattribution to J. S. Bach was that it was recorded in the Anna Magdalena
Bach Buch by one member of the Bach family.

We should appreciate the kind way in which Ben Crick responded with the
complete German text and an English translation. The question would have
gone un-answered if they followed your suggestion. I believe the purpose of
a News Group is to share information, not to show out erudition.

-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
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Bernard S. Greenberg

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Mar 22, 1998, 3:00:00 AM3/22/98

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wrsh...@erols.com wrote:
> > This should have been posted to alt.music.g-h-stoelzel ...:)
>
> I disagree. The proper place for this posting is alt.music.j-s-bach, simply
> because, although Stölzel is the correct composer, the reason for the
> misattribution to J. S. Bach was that it was recorded in the Anna Magdalena
> Bach Buch by one member of the Bach family.
>
> We should appreciate the kind way in which Ben Crick responded with the
> complete German text and an English translation. The question would have
> gone un-answered if they followed your suggestion. I believe the purpose of
> a News Group is to share information, not to show out erudition.

Do you understand what the figure ":)" at the end of my comment
meant? This is a USENET/email convention that means that the
text preceding was offered in jest, i.e., that I was not serious
(it looks like a little 'smiley face').
I can forward you a list of these if you are unfamiliar with them
at this time.

The real intent of my post was to indicate to anyone, or at least
raise curiosity about, this essential fact about this very beautiful
and Bach-like air.

Bernie

Message has been deleted

geoffr...@gmail.com

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Feb 1, 2018, 8:16:48 PM2/1/18

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Here, for what it's worth, is my translation of the German verse to "Bist Du bei mir", almost 20 years after Pater Hudston first posted this question. Bernard Taylor's copyright translation employs a rather archaic, formal English, and is indeed more free interpretation than translation, as it deviates quite a bit in a spot or two from the actual meaning of the German words.

Incidentally, the opening phrase "Bist Du bei mir" is not interrogative but conditional, i.e. not "Are you with me?" but "Were you with me, ..." or "If you were with me, ..."

______

Were you with me, I would go joyfully,
To my death and to my rest,
To my death and to my rest.

Oh, how blissful my end would be,
If your beautiful hands were there to close my loving eyes for me.