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Das Leben ist ein Traum! Wir schlüpfen in die Welt und schweben [Mit jungem Zehn Und frischem Gaum]1, [Auf ihrem Wehn Und ihrem Schaum]2, Bis wir nicht mehr an Erde kleben; Und dann, was [ist]3? Was ist das Leben? Das Leben ist ein Traum. Das Leben ist ein Traum! Wir lieben, unsre Herzen schlagen, Und Herz an Herz [Gefüget]4 kaum, [Ist Lieb und Herz]5 Ein leerer Schaum, Ist hin geschwunden, weggetragen; Was ist das Leben? hör' ich fragen: Das Leben ist ein Traum. Das Leben ist ein Traum! Wir denken, zweifeln, werden [Weise]6; Wir theilen ein In Ort und Raum, In Licht und Schein, In Kraut und Baum, [Sind Euler]7 und gewinnen Preise [Dann, noch am Grabe,]8 sagen Weise: Das Leben ist ein Traum.
Confirmed with F. W. Gleims Sämmtliche Werke, zweyter Band, Carlsruhe, 1819, page 131. Note: "Zehn" is an older spelling of "Zahn", as are "Wehn" for "Wahn" and "theilen" for "teilen"
1 Haydn: "Mit jungen Zahn/ Und frischen Gaum"; on some recordings we can hear "Mit trunknem Sinn,/ erwachet kaum"2 Haydn: "Auf ihren Wahn/ Und ihren Schaum"; on some recordings: "Nach ihrem Wahn/ Und ihrem Schaum"
3 Haydn: "ist's"
4 on some recordings we can hear "vereinet"
5 Haydn: "Ist Lieb und Scherz"; on some recordings: "Wird Lieb und Scherz"
6 Haydn: "weise" (the adjective rather than the noun)
7 In some editions of the poem, "Studiren"
8 on some recordings we can hear "Doch noch im Grabe"
Text Authorship:
- by Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim (1719 - 1803), "Das Leben ist ein Traum" [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 (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809), "Das Leben ist ein Traum", Hob. XXXVIa no. 21 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Antonio Rosetti, né Anton Rösler (1750 - 1792), "Das Leben ist ein Traum!", F. 45 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "La vida és un somni", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Het leven is een droom", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Life is a dream", copyright ©
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "La vie est un rêve", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- IRI Irish (Gaelic) [singable] (Gabriel Rosenstock) , "Is taibhreamh é an saol!", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Solo un sogno è la vita", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 27
Word count: 124
Life is a dream! We slip into the world and float [With young teeth And fresh gums]1 [Upon its waves and its foam]2 until we no longer cleave to the earth. And then, what is it? What is this life? Life is a dream. Life is a dream! We love, our hearts pound, and hardly is heart joined with heart than love and [hearts]3 are empty foam that disappears and is mourned. What is life? I hear you ask. Life is a dream. Life is a dream! We think, we doubt, we grow wise; we arrange things in our places and spaces, in light and shine, in vegetables and trees; we are Euler, winning prizes; then, at the graveside, the wise say: Life is a dream.
Note for line 3-7: Leonhard Euler was a mathematician who won the Paris Academy Prize Problem competition twelve times.
1 Haydn: "With drunken senses,/ hardly awake"2 Haydn: "after its confusion/ and foam"
3 Haydn: "jokes"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust
Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:
Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
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Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim (1719 - 1803), "Das Leben ist ein Traum"
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 27
Word count: 126