Sigh of a summer night | Summer nights, sweet life

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by Christian Reinhold (1813 - 1856)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Sommernachtsseufzer

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

  Sommernächte, süßes Leben,
Wenn sich Hand in Hand verspürt,
Lippen zueinander streben,
Herz an Herz sich schwellend rührt!
 
  Knabe, sprich, und du kannst's tragen,
Noch allein zu sein so spät,
Wenn der Nachtigallen Klagen
Durch die lauen Lüfte geht?
 
  Wenn du wüßtest, was ich dächte,
Wüßtest, wer jetzt harret dein,--
In das kleine Fenster brächte
Dich ein kecker Tritt herein!

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• G. Jenner

View text with all available footnotes

Confirmed with C. Reinhold, Gedichte, Stuttgart: Carl Mäcken, 1853, page 14; and confirmed with C. Reinhold, Die Kinder der Fremde, Bremen: Verlag von Franz Schlodtmann, 1847, pages 65-66.

Text Authorship:

by Christian Reinhold (1813 - 1856), "Sommernachtsseufzer", written 1836, appears in Gedichte, in Lieder und vermischte Gedichte, appears in Die Kinder der Fremde [a novella], first published 1847 [author's text checked 2 times against a primary source]

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Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2016-02-08
Line count: 12
Word count: 65

Sigh of a summer night

NOTE: the footnotes have been removed from this text; return to general view

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

  Summer nights, sweet life,
When a hand feels itself held by another,
When lips strive toward one another,
And heart moves, swelling, against heart!
 
  Lad, tell me, and you can bear it
To be all alone still so late,
When the laments of the nightingale
Pass through the warm breezes?
 
  If you knew what I was thinking,
Knew who is now awaiting you, --
A bold step would bring you
In through the little window!

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Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2016 by Sharon Krebs, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Christian Reinhold (1813 - 1856), "Sommernachtsseufzer", written 1836, appears in Gedichte, in Lieder und vermischte Gedichte, appears in Die Kinder der Fremde [a novella], first published 1847
- Go to the text page.

Go to the general view

This text was added to the website: 2016-02-08
Line count: 12
Word count: 76