Artist’s joy | Farm fields bear wheat and cost money

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by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Malerfreude

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT ENG

Äcker tragen Korn und kosten Geld,
Wiesen sind von Stacheldraht umlauert,
Notdurft sind und Habsucht aufgestellt,
Alles scheint verdorben und vermauert.

Aber hier in meinem Auge wohnt
Eine andre Ordnung aller Dinge,
Violett zerfließt und Purpur thront
Deren unschuldvolles Lied ich singe.

Gelb zu Gelb, und Gelb zu Rot gesellt,
Kühle Bläuen rosig angeflogen!
Licht und Farbe schwingt von Welt zu Welt,
Wölbt und tönt sich aus in Liebeswogen.

Geist regiert, der alles Kranke heilt,
Grün klingt auf aus neugeborener Quelle,
Neu und sinnvoll wird die Welt verteilt,
Und im Herzen wird es froh und helle.

Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, 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 266-267.

Text Authorship:

by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962), "Malerfreude", written 1918, appears in Gedichte des Malers, no. 4 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Christian Immo Schneider (b. 1935), "Malerfreude", op. 41 no. 6 [ high voice and piano ], from Wanderung - Eine Liederfolge für hohe Stimme nach Gedichten von Hermann Hesse, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "La joia d’un pintor", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Artist’s joy", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2009-06-03
Line count: 16
Word count: 96

Artist’s joy

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Farm fields bear wheat and cost money,
Meadows are hedged about with barbed wire,
Need and greed have been arrayed,
Everything seems spoiled and walled up.

But here in my eyes there dwells
A different order of all things,
[The order] whose innocent song I sing,
Melts in violet and reigns in crimson.

Yellow to yellow, and yellow to red joined,
Cool blues touched with a breath of pink!
Light and colour swings from world to world,
Arches and resounds out in billowing waves of love.

A spirit reigns that heals all that is sick,
Green rings up from a newborn well-spring,
The world is parcelled out in a new and sensible manner,
And in one’s heart it becomes happy and bright.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2018 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), "Malerfreude", written 1918, appears in Gedichte des Malers, no. 4
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2018-03-31
Line count: 16
Word count: 122