Mein Lied ertönt ohne Manier

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by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

My song has put off her adornments

Language: English after the Bangla (Bengali)

Our translations: GER

My song has put off her adornments. 
She has no pride of dress and decoration. 
Ornaments would mar our union; 
they would come between thee and me; 
their jingling would drown thy whispers.

My poet's vanity dies in shame before thy sight. 
O master poet, I have sat down at thy feet. 
Only let me make my life simple and straight, 
like a flute of reed for thee to fill with music.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 7, first published 1912 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 7, first published 1912 [text unavailable]
- Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

[ None yet in the database ]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in Dutch (Nederlands), a translation by Frederik van Eeden (1860 - 1932) ; composed by Hendrik Andriessen.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-11-03
Line count: 9
Word count: 72

Mein Lied ertönt ohne Manier

Language: German (Deutsch) after the English

Mein Lied ertönt ohne Manier.
Es prahlt auch nicht mit Kleid und Zier.
Denn Zierrat würde unsre Einheit trüben;
er träte zwischen dich und mich;
dein Flüstern wär von seinem Klimpern übertönt.

Des Dichters Selbstgefälligkeit erstirbt in Scham vor dir.
O Meister aller Dichter, dir sitz ich zu Füßen.
Ach lass mein Leben schlicht und lauter sein,
gleich einer Flöte, voll der Töne, dir zur Ehr.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2014 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Bertram Kottmann. Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de
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Based on:

a text in English by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 7, first published 1912
- Go to the text page.

Based on:

a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 7, first published 1912 [text unavailable]
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2014-04-16
Line count: 9
Word count: 66