Ich schlafe tief in starrer Winternacht,
Mir ist, ich lieg' in Grabesnacht,
Als ob ich spät um Mitternacht gestorben sei
Und schon ein Sternenleben tot.

Zu meinem Kinde zog mein Glück
Und alles Leiden in [das Leid]1 zurück,
Nur meine Sehnsucht sucht sich heim
Und zuckt wie zähes Leben
Und stirbt.

Ich schlafe tief in starrer Winternacht,
Mir ist, ich lieg' in Grabesnacht.

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Confirmed with Else Lasker-Schüler,, Gesammelte Gedichte, 1. Auflage, Leipzig, Verlag der Weißen Bücher, 1917, page 49 (above); and confirmed with Else Lasker-Schüler, Styx. Gedichte, Axel Juncker Verlag, Berlin, 1902 (see notes).

Notes
Stanza 1, line 4: in the 1902 edition of the poem, this line ended with "Sternenleben tot sei".
Stanza 2: in the 1902 edition of the poem, this stanza had one more line and ended with the following lines:

Und zuckt wie zähes Leben
Und stirbt zurück
   In sich.

¹ Daffner: "mich selbst"

Text Authorship:

• by Else Lasker-Schüler (1869 - 1945), "Winternacht", subtitle: "Cellolied", appears in Styx, Gedichte, first published 1902 [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 Johann Karl Brandeis (1910 - 1987), "Winternacht", 1962 [ alto and strings ], from Vier ernste Lieder, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Johann Karl Brandeis (1910 - 1987), "Winternacht", 1987 [ voice and piano ], from Sieben Lieder, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Hugo Daffner (1882 - 1936), "Winternacht", op. 97 (Elf Gedichte für eine Singstimme und Klavier) no. 4 (1923-1924) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Abel Ehrlich (1915 - 2003), "Winternacht", subtitle: "Cellolied", 1998 [ voice and cello ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Kálmán (1929 - 2015), "Winternacht", 1994, first performed 2000 [ voice and piano ], from Viva! [21] Lieder, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Dirk Michael Kirsch (b. 1965), "Winternacht", op. 6 no. 8 (1992-2010) [ soprano, oboe or clarinet, harp ], from Nocturnes für Sopran, Oboe d’amore (Klarinette in A) und Harfe, no. 8 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Klaus Miehling (b. 1963), "Winternacht", op. 297 no. 4 (2019) [ voice and piano ], from Sechs Lieder nach Else Lasker-Schüler, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Wilhelm Rettich (1892 - 1988), "Winternacht", op. 26a no. 24 [ voice and piano ], from Else Lasker-Schüler Zyklus , no. 24, Book IV -- Nachklänge [sung text not yet checked]
• by Andreas Schmidt-Kaminski (b. 1968), "Winternacht", 2012 [ baritone and piano ], from November Songs für Bariton und Klavier, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Christian Immo Schneider (b. 1935), "Winternacht", 1986/2005 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from 54 Lieder für Mezzosopran und Klavier, no. 52 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Sybil Westendorp (1910 - 1999), "Winternacht (Cello-Lied)", 1980 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor] , Johann Winkler , Karl Bellenberg [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2012-12-12
Line count: 11
Word count: 64