LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,139)
  • Text Authors (19,552)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

by Christian Morgenstern (1871 - 1914)

Kleine Geschichte
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Litt einst ein Fähnlein große Not,
halb war es gelb, halb war es rot
und wollte gern zusammen
zu einer lichten Flammen.

Es zog sich, wand sich, wellte sich,
es knitterte, es schnellte sich -
umsonst! es mocht nicht glücken,
die Naht zu überbrücken.

Da kam ein Wolkenbruch daher
und wusch das Fähnlein kreuz und quer,
daß Rot und Gelb, zerflossen,
voll Inbrunst sich genossen.

Des Fähnleins Herren freilich war
des Vorgangs Freudigkeit nicht klar -
indes, die sich besaßen,
nun alle Welt vergaßen.

Text Authorship:

  • by Christian Morgenstern (1871 - 1914), "Kleine Geschichte" [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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Kleine Geschichte", 2011 [ baritone or bass and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Robert Kahn (1865 - 1951), "Kleine Geschichte", op. 31 (Neun Lieder nach Gedichten von Christian Morgenstern) no. 4, published 1899 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Leuckart [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Ernst Toch (1887 - 1964), "Kleine Geschichte", op. 41 no. 6, published 1928 [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • ENG English (Gary Bachlund) , "Little story", written 2011, copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2004-07-11
Line count: 16
Word count: 82

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris