Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.
It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.
If you wish to reprint translations, please use the Reprint Basket (upper right hand corner).
Reminder: You must always use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.
Olim lacus colueram olim pulcher extiteram, dum cignus ego fueram. Miser, miser! modo niger et ustus fortiter! [Girat, regirat furcifer, propinat me nunc dapifer, me rogus urit fortiter!]1 Miser, miser! modo niger et ustus fortiter! Mallem in acquis vivere nudo semper sub aere, quam in hoc mergi pipere: Miser, miser! modo niger et ustus fortiter! Eram nive candidior, quavis ave formosior, modo sum corvo nigrior: Miser, miser! modo niger et ustus fortiter! Nunc in scutella iaceo, et volitare nequeo, dentes frendentes video. Miser, miser! modo niger et ustus fortiter!
C. Orff sets stanzas 1-4, 9-10
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotesConfirmed with Carmina Burana: lateinische und deutsche Lieder und Gedichte. Einer Handschrift des XIII. Jahrhunderts Aus Benediktbeuern auf der K. Bibliothek zu München herausgegeben von J[ohann] A[ndreas] Schmeller, dritte unveränderte Auflage, Breslau: Wilhelm Koebner, 1894. page 173
1 Orff:Girat, regirat garcifer; me rogus urit fortiter; propinat me nunc dapifer.
Text Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, no title, appears in Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae, first published c1300 [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 Carl Orff (1895 - 1982), "Olim lacus colueram", 1935-6, stanzas 1-4,9-10 [ tenor and men's chorus ], from Carmina Burana, no. 12 [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Ludwig Laistner (1845 - 1896) , "Ein Schwanenlied", appears in Golias. Studentenlieder des Mittelalters, aus dem lateinischen von Ludwig Laistner, Stuttgart: W. Spemann, first published 1879 ; composed by Max Zenger.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Saúl Botero Restrepo) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani , Melanie Trumbull
This text was added to the website: 2011-04-24
Line count: 30
Word count: 90
Antes vivía en el lago, antes era hermoso, cuando era un cisne. ¡Desdichado, desdichado! ¡Todo negro y bien asado! El cocinero me da vueltas, el fuego me quema y el siervo me lleva a la mesa. ¡Desdichado, desdichado! ¡Todo negro y bien asado! Ahora estoy en la escudilla, no puedo revolotear y dientes furiosos veo. ¡Desdichado, desdichado! ¡Todo negro y bien asado!
About the headline (FAQ)
Note: this is a translation of Orff's version.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Latin to Spanish (Español) copyright © 2015 by Saúl Botero Restrepo, (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 Latin by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , no title, appears in Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae, first published c1300
This text was added to the website: 2015-09-14
Line count: 18
Word count: 62