Italian night | I love such colourfully sparkling nights

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by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Ich liebe solche bunt beglänzte Nächte

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT ENG FRE

Ich liebe solche bunt beglänzte Nächte
Im Flackerlicht der Lampen, und ich flechte
Gern meiner Lieder fiebernd Rot darein.
Sieh, Liebste, wie sich dort die Jugend drängt
Im späten Tanz, und wie für uns allein
Der Sichelmond im Rauch der Fackeln hängt.

In solchen Nächten lauscht mein zitternd Herz
Mit Qual und Lust heimat und jugendwärts,
Und schlägt im Takt verliebter Melodien.
Mein Auge aber schaut den fremden Mond
Im Silberkahn auf sichern Wegen ziehen
Und ist wie er der Einsamkeit gewohnt.

Sieh, meine Jugend war ein farbig Spiel,
Ein Tanz im Fieber, wild und ohne Ziel
Und schwand verknisternd wie ein Meteor.
Dann kreuzt' ich unstät durch die Welt und fand
Dem Haupt kein Lager, meinem Lied kein Ohr,
Und nur im Traum ein blasses Heimwehland.

Schau dort! Die heiße Menge wogt im Tanz
Und glüht vor Lust und wirft den Loderkranz
Der kurzen Freude jauchzend in die Lüfte.
Ist's doch, als spielte meine Jugend dort
Im süßen Rausch fremdländisch heißer Düfte
Das alte Spiel in neuen Tänzen fort.

Das alte Spiel! Nur daß ich jetzt abseits
Zuschauend lehne und den süßen Reiz
Des Taumeltranks auf kühler Lippe wäge,
Und daß mein Geist gleichgültig Umschau hält
Und meines Herzens heimwehrasche Schläge
Lächelnd wie Takte eines Liedes zählt.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• R. Töpfer • R. Töpfer

R. Töpfer sets stanzas 1-2, 4 in (at least) one setting - see below for more information
R. Töpfer sets stanzas 1, 3-4 in (at least) one setting - see below for more information

About the headline (FAQ)

Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.

Confirmed with Hermann Hesse, Sämtliche Werke, herausgegeben von Volker Michels, Band 10 Die Gedichte, bearbeitet von Peter Huber, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2002, pages 52-53.

Text Authorship:

by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962), "Italienische Nacht", written 1898, appears in Neue deutsche Lyriker III , in Süden, first published 1919 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

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

by Rudolf Töpfer (b. 1891), "Italienische Musik", stanzas 1-2,4 [ three soli, men's chorus ad libitum, and woodwind quintet ], from Eine Stimme singt in der Nacht - Kantate nach Gedichten von Hermann Hesse, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Rudolf Töpfer (b. 1891), "Italienische Nacht", 1958, stanzas 1,3-4 [ baritone and string quartet ] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2014-08-19
Line count: 30
Word count: 208

Italian night

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

I love such colourfully sparkling nights
In the flickering light of the lamps, and with gladness
I weave the feverish red of my songs therein.
See, beloved, how yonder the young folk throng
In a late dance, and how for us alone
The crescent moon hangs in the smoke of the torches.

In such nights my trembling heart listens
With misery and joy [for sounds of] home and youth,
And beats in the rhythm of lovelorn melodies.
My eye, however, gazes upon the foreign moon
Travelling in a silver boat upon sure ways,
And, like the moon, I am accustomed to loneliness.

See, my youth was a colourful game,
A fevered dance, wild and without a goal
And, with a final crackle, it vanished like a meteor.
Then erratically I roamed through the world and found
No resting place for my head, no ear to listen to my songs,
And only in my dreams a pale land of homesickness.

See there!  The hot throng sways in the dance
And glows with rapture and tosses the flaming wreath
Of ephemeral happiness rejoicingly into the air.
It is as if there, in the sweet intoxication of hot scents from foreign lands,
My youth were continuing to play
The old game in new dances.

The old game!  Only that now, off to the side,
I stand watching and ponder the sweet allure
Of the intoxicating drink upon cool lips,
And that my spirit looks about with indifference
And smilingly counts my heartbeats - rapid with homesickness -
Like the measures of a song.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2014 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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962), "Italienische Nacht", written 1898, appears in Neue deutsche Lyriker III , in Süden, first published 1919
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2014-08-19
Line count: 30
Word count: 258