Erfolg - geschätzt am meisten

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Success is counted sweetest

Language: English

Our translations: GER

Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple host
Who took the flag to-day
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory,

As he, defeated, dying,
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Break, agonized and clear.

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Text Authorship:

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems of Emily Dickinson, first published 1890 [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 Alan Leichtling , "Success is counted sweetest", op. 47 no. 3, published 1969 [ baritone, violoncello ], from 3 Songs by Emily Dickinson, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]

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

GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 53

Erfolg ‑ geschätzt am meisten

Language: German (Deutsch) after the English

Erfolg - geschätzt am meisten
von dem, der ihn nie hat.
Nur der weiß ihn zu preisen,
der nie ward von ihm satt.

Nicht einer von der kühnen Schar,
die heut zog in den Krieg,
könnt’ deutlicher es stellen dar,
was man bestimmt als Sieg,

denn jener, dem in Todesqual
ans Ohr - verboten - dringt,
ein Jubel, fern, der triumphal
aus Siegerkehlen klingt.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2019 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 Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems of Emily Dickinson, first published 1890
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2019-03-31
Line count: 12
Word count: 61