I saw three masks upon the heavens

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by Alfred Kerr (1867 - 1948)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Drei Masken sah ich am Himmel stehn

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Drei Masken sah ich am Himmel stehn
Wie Larven sind sie anzusehn.
O Schreck,
Dahinter sieht man
Herrn Friedmann!

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Alfred Kerr (1867 - 1948), no title [author's text not yet checked 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 Richard Georg Strauss (1864 - 1949), "Drei Masken sah ich am Himmel stehn", op. 66 no. 4 (1918), from Krämerspiegel, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , no title, copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "J'ai vu trois masques dans le ciel", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Matthias Fletzberger

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 5
Word count: 19

I saw three masks upon the heavens

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

I saw three masks upon the heavens
They look like disguises.
Oh horror,
Behind them one sees
Mr. Friedmann!

About the headline (FAQ)

Translator's notes:
Line 1: In addition to being a take-off on the first line of "Die Nebensonnen" from Winterreise, this line refers to the publishing house "Drei Masken Verlag."
Line 5: Ludwig Friedmann was the founder of the publishing house "Drei Masken Verlag."

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2014 by Sharon Krebs, (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 Alfred Kerr (1867 - 1948), no title
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2014-09-13
Line count: 5
Word count: 19