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Minstrel's Songs

Song Cycle by Yrjö Henrik Kilpinen (1892 - 1959)

View original-language texts alone: Spielmannslieder

1. Ihr ewigen Sterne
 (Sung text)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Ihr ewigen Sterne wandert Jahr um Jahre
in ewigen Kreisen, ohne Rast und Ruh.

So geht mein Wandern einsam durch die Lande --
          wohin? wozu?

Text Authorship:

  • by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), no title, appears in Sehnen und Suchen: Gedichte, in Schweifen, o Schweifen!, in Vagus Scholasticus, no. 11

Go to the general single-text view

by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946)
1. You eternal stars
Language: English 
You eternal stars wander year after year
In eternal circles, without rest or peace.

Thus I keep wandering lonely through the lands
Whither? What for?

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Alexander K. Puhrer, (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.

    Alexander K. Puhrer. We have no current contact information for the copyright-holder.
    If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), no title, appears in Sehnen und Suchen: Gedichte, in Schweifen, o Schweifen!, in Vagus Scholasticus, no. 11
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 4
Word count: 25

Translation © by Alexander K. Puhrer
2. Eingeschneite stille Felder
 (Sung text)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Eingeschneite stille Felder
dehnen sich um meinen Weg,
unter meinen Nägelschuhen
knirscht der eisbezogene Steg.

Winterblanke Sterne stehen
stumm in ihrer kalten Höh,
brummt der Wind mir in die Ohren:
Winterkälte, Winterweh . .

Droben starren dunkle Wälder,
in der Luft ein Rabenschrei . .
Und ich wandre wegverloren,
heimatlos und vogelfrei . . .

Text Authorship:

  • by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), no title, appears in Sehnen und Suchen: Gedichte, in Schweifen, o Schweifen!, in Vagus Scholasticus, no. 10

Go to the general single-text view

by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946)
2. Snowy, silent fields
Language: English 
 Snowy, silent fields
 stretch from my path.
 The ice covered trail crunches 
 under my spiked shoes.
 
 Bare winter stars stand
 silently in their cold heights,
 the wind growls in my ears:
 wintercold, winterpain.
 
 Dark forests tower above,
 A raven's shriek hangs in the air.
 And I wander lost,
 homeless and shunned.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Alexander K. Puhrer, (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.

    Alexander K. Puhrer. We have no current contact information for the copyright-holder.
    If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), no title, appears in Sehnen und Suchen: Gedichte, in Schweifen, o Schweifen!, in Vagus Scholasticus, no. 10
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 52

Translation © by Alexander K. Puhrer
3. Spiel ich wo zum Tanze auf
 (Sung text)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Spiel ich wo zum Tanze auf,
lass ich meine Blicke schweifen,
wenn die Hände weich in Moll
flüsternde Accorde greifen.

Manches Dirnlein wird verzagt,
schlägt verschämt die Augen nieder,
und das junge Herzchen klopft
schneller unterm roten Mieder.

Ladet dann der Sternenglanz
nächtlich zu verschwieg'nem Kosen,
ist die schönste Dirne mein
hinter Dorn und Heckenrosen.

Text Authorship:

  • by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), no title, appears in Sehnen und Suchen: Gedichte, in Schweifen, o Schweifen!, in Vagus Scholasticus, no. 4

Go to the general single-text view

by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946)
3. When I play for a dance
Language: English 
 When I play for a dance
 I let my eyes roam,
 while my hands furnish 
 whispering chords in minor.
 
 Many a girl becomes shy
 and looks away ashamed,
 while her young heart beats 
 quicker under her red corset.
 
 When the stars then invite
 to nightly, hushed caresses,
 the prettiest girl is mine
 behind thorn and rose bushes.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Alexander K. Puhrer, (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.

    Alexander K. Puhrer. We have no current contact information for the copyright-holder.
    If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), no title, appears in Sehnen und Suchen: Gedichte, in Schweifen, o Schweifen!, in Vagus Scholasticus, no. 4
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 58

Translation © by Alexander K. Puhrer
4. Tanzlied
 (Sung text)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Nun wind um deine Stirne
den vollen Rosenkranz!
Nun schürz dich, blanke Dirne,
und komm mit mir zum Tanz!

Der Mond grüsst durch die Zweige,
die Linde schauert sacht;
da singt und klingt die Geige
hell jauchzend durch die Nacht.

Da springen wir den Reihen
in lustig-tollem Schritt:
es hüpft vor Lust uns zweien
das Herz im Takte mit.

Text Authorship:

  • by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), "Tanzlied", appears in Sehnen und Suchen: Gedichte, in Schweifen, o Schweifen!, in Spielmannslieder

See other settings of this text.

Confirmed with Sehnen und Suchen, Vierte Auflage, Rostock: C.J.E. Volckmann (Volckman & Wetter), 1905, page 81.


by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946)
4. Dance Song
Language: English 
 Bind around your head
 the full crown of roses!
 Put on your apron, bare girl,
 and come with me to dance!
 
 The moon greets through the branches,
 The linden tree shivers lightly;
 the fiddle is sounding and singing
 brightly through the night.
 
 We dance the dance
 with exuberant steps:
 both our hearts jump
 joyfully to the beat. 

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Alexander K. Puhrer, (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.

    Alexander K. Puhrer. We have no current contact information for the copyright-holder.
    If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), "Tanzlied", appears in Sehnen und Suchen: Gedichte, in Schweifen, o Schweifen!, in Spielmannslieder
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 58

Translation © by Alexander K. Puhrer
5. Spielmannssehnen
 (Sung text)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Küssen und Kosen 
steht euch an.
Wer nähme ernst 
den Fiedelmann!
Und ist mir doch so bitterweh,
wenn ich zwei Liebesleute seh
verschwiegen unter Linden . .
Ach Glück und Liebe, wie fern, wie fern!
Und möchte doch so bittergern
eine treue Seele finden . . .

Text Authorship:

  • by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), "Spielmannssehnen", appears in Sehnen und Suchen: Gedichte, in Schweifen, o Schweifen!, in Spielmannslieder

See other settings of this text.

Confirmed with Sehnen und Suchen, Vierte Auflage, Rostock: C.J.E. Volckmann (Volckman & Wetter), 1905, page 82.


by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946)
5. Minstrel's Longing
Language: English 
Kisses and caresses are for you.
Who would take the fiddleman seriously?
Still, I feel such bitter pain
when I see two lovers sitting
silently under the linden trees...
Ah, happiness and love, how far, how far!
And yet I so bitterly wish
to find a faithful soul...

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Alexander K. Puhrer, (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.

    Alexander K. Puhrer. We have no current contact information for the copyright-holder.
    If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), "Spielmannssehnen", appears in Sehnen und Suchen: Gedichte, in Schweifen, o Schweifen!, in Spielmannslieder
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 48

Translation © by Alexander K. Puhrer
6. Vor Tau und Tag
 (Sung text)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Der Frost in letzter Nacht
hat alle Blüten umgebracht
    vor Tau und Tag . . .

Das war ein helles Glühn
und war ein blumenstilles Blühn
in einem Mädchenherzen.

Er sprach ein Wort in Scherzen,
das klang so kalt, ihr Herz erfror . . 
und keiner weiss, was sie verlor
     vor Tau und Tag . . .

Text Authorship:

  • by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), "Vor Tau und Tag", appears in Sehnen und Suchen: Gedichte, in Einkehr und Wende, in Neue Ziele

Go to the general single-text view

Confirmed with Sehnen und Suchen, Vierte Auflage, Rostock: C.J.E. Volckmann (Volckman & Wetter), 1905, page 148.


by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946)
6. Before Dew and Day
Language: English 
Last night's frost
killed all the blossoms
before dew and dawn...
It was a bright glowing,
a blooming as silent as a flower's,
inside a maiden's heart.
He spoke a word in jest,
it sounded so cold, her heart froze...
And no one knows what she lost
before dew and day.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Alexander K. Puhrer, (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.

    Alexander K. Puhrer. We have no current contact information for the copyright-holder.
    If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), "Vor Tau und Tag", appears in Sehnen und Suchen: Gedichte, in Einkehr und Wende, in Neue Ziele
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 10
Word count: 51

Translation © by Alexander K. Puhrer
7. Wenn der Wein nicht wär
 (Sung text)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Wenn der Wein nicht wär und die Mädel dazu,
und zu Hause der dumpfe Frieden,
und der Rost an den Nägeln der Wanderschuh,
und der Schwalbenflug nach Süden:

dann hiesse ich längst Herr Pfarrvikar,
fern von Sorgen und Sünde,
stäche den Leuten den Seelenstar
und hätte die fetteste Pfründe.

Text Authorship:

  • by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), no title, appears in Sehnen und Suchen: Gedichte, in Schweifen, o Schweifen!, in Vagus Scholasticus, no. 7

Go to the general single-text view

by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946)
7. If it weren't for wine
Language: English 
 If it weren't for wine and girls,
 and the dull quiet at home,
 and the rust on the spikes of my boots,
 and the swallows' migration south:

 then I'd already be the parish vicar,
 far from worries and sin,
 I'd save peoples' souls
 and would have the fattest purse.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Alexander K. Puhrer, (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.

    Alexander K. Puhrer. We have no current contact information for the copyright-holder.
    If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), no title, appears in Sehnen und Suchen: Gedichte, in Schweifen, o Schweifen!, in Vagus Scholasticus, no. 7
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 50

Translation © by Alexander K. Puhrer
8. Ich sang mich durch das deutsche Land
 (Sung text)
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Ich sang mich durch das deutsche Land
vom Belt zu den Donauquellen,
und manch Dukatlein steckte man 
ins Wams dem lustigen Gesellen.

Und war ein Leben hier wie dort:
bei Weibervolk und kühlem Wein,
da musste all das blanke Gold
in einer Nacht verschlemmet sein.

So lass ich nichts auf dieser Welt
als eine Handvoll roter Lieder:
die streut ich in den losen Wind
und fand sie auf den Gassen wieder.

Und lieg ich einst im Heidegrund,
dann pfeift noch über meinem Grabe
ein Wanderbursch die Melodie,
die ich einmal gesungen habe.

Text Authorship:

  • by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), no title, appears in Sehnen und Suchen: Gedichte, in Schweifen, o Schweifen!, in Vagus Scholasticus, no. 9

Go to the general single-text view

by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946)
8. I sang throughout the German lands
Language: English 
I sang throughout the German lands
from the Baelt to the Danube springs,
and many a ducat was placed 
in the purse of the entertaining fellow.

And life was here as it was there:
with women and cool wine,
all the shining gold 
had to be squandered in one night.

Thus I leave nothing on this earth
but a handful of red songs:
I scattered them in the wind
and found them again on the streets.

And when I finally lie under the heath,
upon my grave a wandering boy
will still be whistling that tune
which I once sang.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Alexander K. Puhrer, (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.

    Alexander K. Puhrer. We have no current contact information for the copyright-holder.
    If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), no title, appears in Sehnen und Suchen: Gedichte, in Schweifen, o Schweifen!, in Vagus Scholasticus, no. 9
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 100

Translation © by Alexander K. Puhrer
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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