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Ein Schifflein ziehet leise Den Strom hin seine Gleise. Es schweigen, die drin wandern, Denn keiner kennt den Andern. Was zieht hier aus dem Felle Der braune Weidgeselle? Ein Horn, das sanft erschallet; Das Ufer widerhallet. Von seinem Wanderstabe Schraubt jener Stift und Habe, Und mischt mit Flötentönen Sich in des Hornes Dröhnen. Das Mädchen saß so blöde, Als fehlt' ihr gar die Rede, Jetzt stimmt sie mit Gesange Zu Horn und Flötenklange. Die Rudrer auch sich regen Mit taktgemäßen Schlägen. Das Schiff hinunter flieget, Von Melodie gewieget. Hart stößt es auf am Strande, Man trennt sich in die Lande: Wann treffen wir uns, Brüder? Auf einem Schifflein wieder?
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• F. Draeseke • C. Kreutzer • J. Lang • J. Lang • C. Loewe • F. Mendelssohn • R. Schumann • F. SilcherAbout the headline (FAQ)
View text with all available footnotesConfirmed with Uhlands Werke, Erster Teil, Gedichte, herausgegeben von Adalbert Silbermann, Berlin, Leipzig, Wien, Stuttgart: Deutsches Verlagshaus Bong & Co., [no year], page 144.
Note: Josephine Lang composed two different unpublished settings of this text, neither of which is dated. The setting with only one manuscript has been designated "first setting" and the one with four manuscript versions has been designated "second setting." In the first setting the last line of stanza 5 is not in the score, although there vocal notes to which it could fit. For the second setting, footnotes have been provided for V4 only.
Text Authorship:
- by Johann Ludwig Uhland (1787 - 1862), "Das Schifflein", appears in Balladen und Romanzen [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
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Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor], Johann Winkler
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 118
A little ship quietly travels Its path along the current. Those travelling on it are silent For they do not know each other. What is it that from beneath his pelts The brown forester pulls out? It is a horn that softly sounds: The shore echoes its sounding. From his walking stick Another unscrews prong and possessions, And mixes the tones of a flute Into the droning of the horn. The maiden who had sat so bashfully, As if she were incapable of speech, Now lifts her voice in song To the sounds of the horn and the flute. The rowers, too, bestir themselves With rhythmic strokes. The ship beneath them flies Rocked by melody. The shore is reached with a hard bump, The passengers prepare to go their separate ways into the land: When, brethren, shall we all be together again Upon the same little ship?
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2013 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 Johann Ludwig Uhland (1787 - 1862), "Das Schifflein", appears in Balladen und Romanzen
Go to the general view
This text was added to the website: 2013-07-03
Line count: 24
Word count: 150