LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,159)
  • Text Authors (19,577)
  • 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 (1,115)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

×

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.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Wilhelm Busch (1832 - 1908)
Translation © by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947)

Sie war ein Blümlein hübsch und fein
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG
Sie war ein Blümlein hübsch und fein,
Hell aufgeblüht im Sonnenschein.
Er war ein junger Schmetterling,
Der selig an der Blume hing.
Oft kam ein Bienlein mit Gebrumm
Und nascht' und säuselt' da herum.
Oft kroch ein Käfer kribbelkrab
Am hübschen Blümlein auf und ab.
Ach Gott, wie das dem Schmetterling
So schmerzlich durch die Seele ging.
Doch was am meisten ihn entsetzt,
Das Allerschlimmste kam zuletzt.
Ein alter Esel fraß die ganze
Von ihm so heiß geliebte Pflanze.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Wilhelm Busch (1832 - 1908), no title, appears in Kritik des Herzens [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), "Sie war ein Blümlein hübsch und fein", 2009 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Helmut Fritsche (1907 - 1964), "Sie war ein Blümlein", op. 76 (Lieder nach Texten von Wilhelm Busch aus "Kritik des Herzens") no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Hans Gál (1890 - 1987), "Der Betrogene", op. 40 no. 1 (1934?), published 1934, first performed c1934 [ TTBB chorus and piano ], from Drei Idyllen, no. 1, Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Franz Mittler (1893 - 1970), "Der eifersüchtige Schmetterling" [ voice and piano ], confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Gertrud Schweizer (1894 - 1942), "Schmerzliche Begebenheit", published 2024 [ voice and piano ], CAESURA. [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • ENG English (Gary Bachlund) , "She was a beautiful, delicate blossom", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-02-21
Line count: 14
Word count: 79

She was a beautiful, delicate blossom
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
She was a beautiful, delicate blossom,
brightly blooming in the sunshine.
He was a young butterfly,
blissfully hanging on the flower.
Often came a little droning bee
to nibble and murmur there.
Often a beetle crawled like a tickling crab
all over the lovely little blossom.
Oh God, but through the butterfly's soul
went something so painful.
Thus was he so horrified,
And the worst of it was this:
An old donkey gobbled the whole
Which he had so passionately loved.

Text Authorship:

  • by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "She was a beautiful, delicate blossom", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Wilhelm Busch (1832 - 1908), no title, appears in Kritik des Herzens
    • Go to the text page.

 
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-03-15
Line count: 14
Word count: 81

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