What the birdlet sang | Once, blissfully alone

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by Julius Gersdorff (1849 - 1907)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Was das Vöglein sang

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Selig einst allein
Gingen wir im Hain,
Lauschten still am Buchenhang,
Was das Vöglein sang.

Rosen welkten bald,
Stille ward's im Wald,
Lang verhallte schon der Klang,
Was das Vöglein sang.

Goldne Jugendzeit,
Wie bist du so weit,
Wie ertönet heut' so bang,
Was das Vöglein sang.

Text Authorship:

by Julius Gersdorff (1849 - 1907) [author's text not yet checked 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 Jan (or Johann) Sluníčko (1852 - 1923), "Was das Vöglein sang", op. 28 (Drei Lieder für 1 mittlere Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 3, published 1900 [ medium voice and piano ], Augsburg, Böhm & Sohn [sung text not yet checked]
by Max Stange (1856 - 1932), "Was das Vöglein sang", published 1903 [ voice and piano ], in the collection Im Volkston II. Sammlung: moderne Preislieder komponiert für Die Woche, Druck und Verlag von August Scherl G.m.b.H. Berlin [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "What the birdlet sang", copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2021-07-08
Line count: 12
Word count: 47

What the birdlet sang

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Once, blissfully alone,
We walked in the grove,
Silently at the hillside of beeches we listened
To what the birdlet sang.

The roses soon withered,
It became quiet in the woods,
The sound of what the birdlet sang
Had long since died away.

Golden time of youth,
How you are so far away,
Today, how anxiously rings out
What the birdlet sang.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2021 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 Julius Gersdorff (1849 - 1907)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2021-07-08
Line count: 12
Word count: 62