Fünfzehn Lieder auf Gedichte von Emily Dickinson

Translations © by Bertram Kottmann

Song Cycle by Gloria Coates (b. 1938)

View original-language texts alone: 15 Songs on Poems by Emily Dickinson

1. After great pain
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
After great pain, a formal feeling comes –
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs –
The stiff Heart questions 'was it He, that bore,'
And 'Yesterday, or Centuries before'?

The Feet, mechanical, go round –
A Wooden way
Of Ground, or Air, or Ought –
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone –

This is the Hour of Lead –
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow –
First – Chill – then Stupor – then the letting go –

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
1.
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Nach großem Leid flieht man in Förmlichkeit --
Nerv liegt an Nerv wie Grab an Grab gereiht --
benommen fragt das Herz „Litt Er so schwer?“
„War’s gestern oder ist’s schon ewig her?“

Die Füße trotten wie von selbst im Rund
hölzernen Gangs
aus Pflicht, auf schwankend, festem Grund
trotz allem drein
in quarzenem Zufriedensein.

Wie Blei ist solche Zeit --
der denkt dran, der ihr trotzt,
wie jenen, die erfriern, der Schnee präsent --
erst Kälte -- Starre -- dann der Fall ins End.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2016 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

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This text was added to the website: 2016-11-26
Line count: 13
Word count: 79

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann
2. I held a jewel in my fingers
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
I held a jewel in my fingers
And went to sleep.
The day was warm, and winds were prosy;
I said: "'T will keep."

I woke and chid my honest fingers, -
The gem was gone;
And now an amethyst remembrance
Is all I own.

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
2.
Language: German (Deutsch) 
In Händen ein Juwel ich hatt’
und schlief dann ein.
Warm war der Tag, die Winde matt;
ich meint’, ’s bleibt mein.

Erwacht, schalt ich die brave Hand:
weg war der Stein -
Erinnerung an Amethyst
verbleibt allein.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2016 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

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Line count: 8
Word count: 37

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3. Wild nights! Wild nights!
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
Wild nights! -- Wild nights!
Were I with thee,
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!

Futile -- the Wind --
To a heart in port, --
Done with the Compass, --
Done with the Chart!

Rowing in Eden --
Ah! the Sea!
Might I but moor -- Tonight --
In thee!

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
3.
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Sturm! Nacht auf Nacht!
Wär’ ich bei dir,
Sturmnacht wär mir
Luxus und dir!

Nutzlos ein Sturm
dem Herzen im Port, -
Weg mit dem Kompass,
Seekarten fort!

Auf See in Eden -
Ach! Das Meer!
In dir heut Nacht ankern
vielmehr!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2016 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

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This text was added to the website: 2016-03-01
Line count: 12
Word count: 40

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann
4. Mine by the right of the white election
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
Mine by the right of the white election!
Mine by the royal seal!
Mine by the sign in the scarlet prison
Bars cannot conceal!

Mine, here in vision and in veto!
Mine, by the grave's repeal
Titled, confirmed, - delirious charter!
Mine, while the ages steal!

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
4.
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Mein - durch das Recht auf die Wahl des Weißen!
Mein - durch des Königs Siegel!
Mein - durch das „A“ in Scharlachrot
im vorgehaltenen Spiegel!

Mein - durch anders wollen und nicht dürfen!
Mein - im Leben nach dem Sein
wirksam, bestätigt - höchstes Glück verbrieft!
Derweil die Zeit entflieht, doch mein!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2016 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

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Line count: 8
Word count: 47

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5. A word is dead
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live - that day.

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
5.
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Ein Wort ist tot,
wenn man es sagt,
sagt man.
Ich sag, just dann
fängt es zu leben an.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2016 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

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Word count: 19

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6. I'm nobody
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us - don't tell!
They'd advertise, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell one's name the livelong June
To an admiring bog!

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
6.
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Bin ein Niemand! Wer bist du?
Bist auch ein Niemand du?
Dann sind zu zweit wir - sag’s niemand!
Wir würden dann verbannt.

Wie monoton, jemand zu sein -
ein lauter Frosch gleichsam:
Der stellt sich vor, tagaus, tagein
Bewunderern im Schlamm!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2016 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

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This text was added to the website: 2016-03-06
Line count: 8
Word count: 40

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7. Vitality begun
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
A death blow is a life blow to some,
Who till they died, did not alive become.
Who had they lived, had died but when
They died, vitality begun.

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
7.
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Ein Todesstoß ist denen ein Impuls zu leben,
die bis zum Tode nicht lebendig waren,
die, hätten sie gelebt, gestorben wären,
doch deren Lebenskraft im Tod begann.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2016 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

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This text was added to the website: 2016-11-28
Line count: 4
Word count: 27

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann
8. Bride of the Holy Ghost
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
Given in marriage unto Thee
Oh thou celestial host,
Bride of the Father and the Son
Bride of the Holy Ghost.
Other betrothal shall dissolve
Wedlock of will, decay,
Only the keeper of this ring
conquer mortality.

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
8. Braut des Heiligen Geistes
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Dir durch die Ehe anvertraut,
Herr der Himmelswelt,
des Vaters und des Sohnes Braut
vom Heil’gen Geist erwählt.
Irdisch Verlöbnis wird gelöst,
verfallen, die gefreit,
Einzig wer diesen Eh’ring trägt,
bezwingt die Sterblichkeit.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2016 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

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Translation of title "Bride of the Holy Ghost" = "Braut des Heiligen Geistes"


This text was added to the website: 2016-11-28
Line count: 8
Word count: 33

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann
9. In falling timbers buried
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
In falling timbers buried
There breathed a man.
Outside the spades were plying,
The lungs within.

Could he know they sought him,
Could they know he breathed,
Horrid sand partition,
Neither could be heard.

Never slacked the diggers,
But when spades had done,
Oh reward of anguish,
It was dying then.

Many things are fruitless,
'Tis a baffling earth,
But there is no gratitude
Like the Grace of death.

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
9.
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Verschüttet unter Trümmern
keuchte ein Mensch.
Draußen plagten Spaten sich,
die Lungen, drin.

Wusst’ er von der Suche?
Und sie, dass er noch lebt?
Schutt und Trümmerberge -
keiner den andern hört.

Nimmer ruhn die Spaten,
doch als sie es geschafft -
ach, welch Lohn der Mühsal -
hat der Tod gesiegt.

Vieles ist vergebens -
schwer zu verstehn die Welt -
doch letztlich danken wir 
dem barmherz’gen  Tod.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2016 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

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Line count: 16
Word count: 64

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10. On the death of a child
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
Now I lay thee down to sleep,
I pray the Lord thy dust to keep,
and if thou live before thou wake,
I pray the Lord thy soul to make.

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
10. Auf eines Kindes Tod
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Nun muss ich dich zur ew'gen Ruhe betten;
ich fleh' zum Herrn, er möge deinen Leib erretten;
und wenn du lebst, eh' du erweckt wirst sein,
hauche der Herr dir deine Seele ein.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2007 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

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This text was added to the website: 2007-12-03
Line count: 4
Word count: 33

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann
11. Armistice
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
They dropped like flakes,
They dropped like stars,
Like petals from a rose,
When suddenly across the June
A wind with fingers goes.

They perished in the seamless grass
No eye could find the place,
But God can summon every face
Of His repealless list.

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
11. Waffenruhe
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Wie Flocken, Sterne
fielen sie, wie
Rosenblütenblätter,
wenn mit den Fingern jäh 
ein Wind über den Juni streicht.

Im weiten Grasland fielen sie,
niemand fänd je den Ort -
doch Gott führt jedes Opfer dort 
auf seiner festen Liste.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2016 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

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Translation of title "Armistice" = "Waffenruhe"

Note (provided by Bertram Kottmann) : 1863, ED gedenkt der 51.000 Opfer der Schlacht von Gettysburg vom 01.07. bis 03.07.1863 im Amerikanischen Bürgerkrieg.


This text was added to the website: 2016-11-28
Line count: 9
Word count: 38

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann
12. Bind me ‑ I still can sing
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
Bind me -- I still can sing
Banish -- my mandolin
Strikes true within --.

Slay -- and my Soul shall rise
Chanting to Paradise --
Still thine.

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
12. Fessle mich - kann dennoch singen
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Fessle mich - kann dennoch singen -
weis’ mich ab - die Saiten klingen
doch treu in mir.

Töte mich - zum Paradies aufschwingen
wird meine Seele sich und singen -
noch immer dein.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2016 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

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Line count: 6
Word count: 29

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13. I've seen a dying eye
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
I've seen a dying eye
Run round and round a room
In search of something, as it seemed,
Then cloudier become;
And then, obscure with fog,
And then be soldered down,
Without disclosing what it be,
’T were blessed to have seen.

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
13.
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Ich sah ein sterbend Aug -
im Zimmer irrt’s herum -
etwas zu suchen - wie es schien -
umwölkter ward’s hernach,
von Nebeln dann getrübt,
um letztlich zu erstarr’n.
Ein Segen wär, es täte kund
was es geschaut in Todesstund.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2016 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

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Word count: 37

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14. If I can stop one heart from breaking
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
14.
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Kann ich auch nur ein Herz am Brechen hindern,
so leb' ich nicht vergebens;
und kann ich eines Wesens Schmerzen lindern
und Nöte seines Lebens,
und kann ein mattes Vöglein ich
ins Nest aufs Neue heben -
so leb' ich nicht vergebens.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2011 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

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Anmerkung des Übersetzers: prosodische Gründe ließen 'robin' = Rotkehlchen (Erithacus rubecula) zum 'Vöglein ' werden.


This text was added to the website: 2011-02-05
Line count: 7
Word count: 41

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann
15. Will there really be a morning?
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
Will there really be a morning?
Is there such a thing as day?
Could I see it from the mountains
If I were as tall as they?

Has it feet like water-lilies?
Has it feathers like a bird?
Is it brought from famous countries
Of which I have never heard?

Oh, some scholar! Oh, some sailor!
Oh, some wise man from the skies!
Please to tell a little pilgrim
Where the place called morning lies!

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
15.
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Wird es „Morgen“ wirklich geben?
Gibt es so etwas wie „Tag“?
Könnt ich’s von ganz oben sehen,
wenn ich hätt’ der Berge Schlag?

Hat es Sprossen wie Seerosen?
Federn, wie’s der Vogel hat?
Aus fernem Land zu uns gestoßen,
von dem man keine Ahnung hat?

Ach, Gelehrter! Ach,Matrose!
Weiser, der vom Himmel fliegt!
Sagt einem, der auf dem Weg ist,
wo, was „Morgen“ heißt, denn liegt.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2016 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

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This text was added to the website: 2016-11-28
Line count: 12
Word count: 66

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