From: Idyll of Lake Constance | Oh, that time of pure bliss when young lads grow tall, and young lasses!

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by Eduard Mörike (1804 - 1875)

Translation © by Peter Palmer

O glückselige Zeit, da der Jüngling...

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

O glückselige Zeit, da der Jüngling blüht und die Jungfrau!
Unaufhaltsam gehst du dahin, nie wiederzukehren!
Gleich wie ein weitaussehendes Lied anhebet und freundlich
Jedem das Herz einnimmt (dies hoffet ein Sänger bescheiden),
Daß man der fliehenden Stunde nicht wahrnimmt und sich das Ende
Gerne verhüllt, doch kommt es zuletzt und die Töne verstummen:
Also verrinnt die gemessene Frist anmutiger Jugend.
Zwar auch der Mann, der dem Haus vorsteht und neben dem Weibe
Blühende Kinder ernährt, noch über die Mitte des Lebens
Grünet er neidenswert: dann aber empfängt ihn das Alter
Schon mit unwillkommenem Gruß, und dringet ihm Freundschaft
Auf, die jeden beschämt und welcher doch alle sich fügen,
Ehe das Bitterste naht; denn lieb ist das Leben auch so noch.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Eduard Mörike (1804 - 1875), no title, appears in Idylle vom Bodensee, beginning of the much longer poem, "Siebenter Gesang" [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 Paul Müller-Zürich (1898 - 1993), "Idylle vom Bodensee" [ sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Peter Palmer) , "From: Idyll of Lake Constance", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Peter Palmer

This text was added to the website: 2010-02-16
Line count: 13
Word count: 121

From: Idyll of Lake Constance

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Oh, that time of pure bliss when young lads grow tall, and young lasses!
With implacable step you depart, beyond all retrieving!
Just as a song divining the future strikes up and serenely
Captures all hearts (this is the singer's unassuming ambition),
So that one fails to take heed of time's passing and draws a curtain
Hiding the end, which comes nonetheless and will silence the music:
Thus will expire the preordained amount of life's youthful sweetness.
Granted: that paterfamilias observed with his consort
Raising his ruddy-cheeked children, he too continues to prosper,
Envied by all, beyond middle age: then old age accosts him,
Giving its unwelcome salute, dictating a friendship
Which will always embarrass, yet one and all must submit to,
Ere the bitterest stage, for life is still kind within limits.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2010 by Peter Palmer, (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 Eduard Mörike (1804 - 1875), no title, appears in Idylle vom Bodensee, beginning of the much longer poem, "Siebenter Gesang"
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2010-02-16
Line count: 13
Word count: 133