Talk:Ruhe, meine Seele!

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Classical music: Compositions

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Exclamation mark

Latest comment: 8 years ago5 comments3 people in discussion

Does the Boosey & Hawkes score really list the title with an exclamation mark? It appears here and here without one. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 05:45, 24 August 2009 (UTC)Reply

Yes, the B & H Complete Edition does, hence reason for moving "Ruhe, meine Seele" to "Ruhe, meine Seele!". Note, "Morgen!" occasionally appears as "Morgen". Such is understandable, but we must keep with the best authority. I am pleased these details get noticed. P0mbal (talk) 21:30, 24 August 2009 (UTC)Reply

What is the published title of Henckell's poem? P0mbal (talk) 21:35, 24 August 2009 (UTC)Reply

I can't establish the definitive title of Henckell's poem. I think it's part of a collection titled Buch des Kampfes, for which I couln't locate an online source. It's not part of this facsimile collection, but I found a transcribed version, which of doesn't settle the question.

I think the online references for this title are about 50/50 with/without the exclamation mark. From a German-language point of view, a phrase like "Ruhe, meine Seele" expresses an imperative mood and needs an exclamation mark. However, that phrase is only the first line of a sentence which forms the second stanza, so the effect of the imperative has vanished by the end of the sentence and there is no exclamation mark. When the line alone is taken as the title, it may well have an exclamation mark, or not, depending on the intent of the author. All this speculation depends of course on the comma at the end of that line; if that's not there, it has to be an exclamation mark.

On the other hand, there are the last two lines of the poem where the words are repeated and they are followed by an exclamation mark. Here, at the end of the third verse, the exclamation mark is unavoidable: there are two imperatives ("ruhe", "vergiß") in those two lines.

All this is irrelevant, though, because we can't be wrong when following the Boosey & Hawkes usage. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 05:48, 25 August 2009 (UTC)Reply

I have the 1904 Universal edition (Leipzig) version. The exclamation marks are there. I also added the Bernhoff English version (the Universal edition has both German and English). It is the sung version, not a literal or poetic translation. However, the sung version is pretty close to the German except for a few lines. Also added the repetition of the penulitimate line added by Strauss.Byronmercury (talk) 22:22, 1 January 2016 (UTC)Reply

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