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by Henrik Ibsen (1828 - 1906)
Translation by Christian Morgenstern (1871 - 1914)

Agnes, min dejlige sommerfugl
Language: Norwegian (Bokmål) 
Our translations:  FRE
Ejnar:
 Agnes, min dejlige sommerfugl,
 dig vil jeg legende fange!
 Jeg fletter et garn [med]1 masker små,
 og maskerne ere mine sange!

Agnes
 [Er]2 jeg en sommerfugl, liden og skær,
 så lad mig af lyngtoppen drikke;
 og er du en gut, som lyster en leg,
 så jag mig, men fang mig ikke!

Ejnar
 Agnes, min dejlige sommerfugl,
 nu har jeg maskerne flettet;
 dig hjælper visst aldrig din flagrende flugt, --
 snart sidder du fangen i nettet!

Agnes
 [Er]2 jeg en sommerfugl, ung og blank,
 jeg lystig i legen mig svinger;
 men fanger du mig under nettets spind,
 så rør ikke ved mine vinger!

Ejnar
 Nej, jeg skal løfte dig varligt på hånd
 og lukke dig ind i mit hjerte;
 der [kan]3 du lege dit hele liv
 den gladeste leg, du lærte !

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   E. Sjögren 

E. Sjögren sets stanzas 1-4

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Backer-Grøndahl: "af"
2 Backer-Grøndahl: "Og er"
3 Backer-Grøndahl: "skal"

Text Authorship:

  • by Henrik Ibsen (1828 - 1906), no title, appears in Brand, Act I [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 Agathe Ursula Backer-Grøndahl (1847 - 1907), "Agnes min deilige Sommerfugl", op. 2 (Fem Sange) no. 1 (1871), published 1873 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by (Johan Gustaf) Emil Sjögren (1853 - 1918), "Agnes", op. 1 (Fyra dikter af Ibsen och Björnson) no. 1 (1876), stanzas 1-4 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Christian Morgenstern (1871 - 1914) , "Agnes" ; composed by Emil Bezecný, Robert Kahn.
      • Go to the text.

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

  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Agnès", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-02-16
Line count: 25
Word count: 134

Agnes, mein reizender Schmetterling
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the Norwegian (Bokmål) 
Agnes, mein reizender Schmetterling
Bald hab' dich Flüchtling ich wieder!
Ein Fangnetz knüpf' ich, mit Maschen dicht,
Und die Maschen, das sind meine Lieder!

"Bin ich ein Schmetterling zierlich und hell,
So laß mich vom Heidekraut naschen;
Und bist du ein Bursch, dem Spielen gefällt,
So darfst mich nur jagen, nicht haschen!"

Agnes, mein reizender Schmetterling,
Da sind die Maschen gesponnen!
Nun hilft dir wohl nimmer dein flatternder Flug, -
Nun hab' ich dich balde gewonnen!

"Bin ich ein Schmetterling jung und fein,
So wieg' ich mich wonnig im Winde;
Doch fängst du mich in dein Fangnetz ein,
So mach' mir die Flügel nicht blinde!"

Nein, auf die Hand will ich setzen dich zart
Und in mein Herz einschließen;
Dort magst du flattern dein Leben lang
Und ewiger Sonne genießen!

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Christian Morgenstern (1871 - 1914), "Agnes" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Norwegian (Bokmål) by Henrik Ibsen (1828 - 1906), no title, appears in Brand, Act I
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Emil Bezecný (1868 - 1904), "Agnes, mein reizender Schmetterling", op. 2 (Lieder und Balladen für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung), Heft 1 no. 6, published 1890 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Robert Kahn (1865 - 1951), "Agnes, mein reizender Schmetterling", op. 43 (Neun Duette mit Klavierbegleitung) no. 5 (1905) [ duet for 2 voices with piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this page: Bertram Kottmann

This text was added to the website: 2014-09-13
Line count: 20
Word count: 129

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

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