Franz Schubert to a friend

Vienna, 31 Mar 1824

My brightest hopes have come to nothing, the joys of

friendship and love soon turn to sorrows, and even my

pleasure in beauty itself is in danger of dying away! "

Meine

Ruh' ist hin, mein Herz ist schwer

;" thus sang Gretchen at

her spinning wheel. So might I now sing every day, for every

night I got to bed hoping that I shall not wake again, and

each morning only brings back all the sorrows and grief of

the day before. "

Meine Ruh' ist hin, mein Herz ist schwer

;"

thus sang Gretchen at her spinning wheel. And so I spend

my days, joyless and friendless.