When by night I rode over the mountains

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by Otto Julius Bierbaum (1865 - 1910)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Als nachts ich überm Gebirge ritt

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT ENG FRE

Als nachts ich überm Gebirge ritt,
Rack, schack, schacke mein Pferdchen,
Da ritt ein seltsam Klingeln mit,
Kling, ling, klingelalei.

Es war ein schmeichlerisch bittend Getön,
Es war wie Kinderstimmen schön.

Mir wars, ich streichelt' ein lindes Haar,
Mir war so weh und wunderbar.

Da schwand das Klingeln mit einemmal,
Ich sah hinunter ins tiefe Tal.

Da sah ich Licht in meinem Haus,
Rack, schack, schacke mein Pferdchen,
Mein Bübchen sah nach der Mutter aus,
Kling, ling, klingelalei.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• H. Hermann • C. Sinding

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Confirmed with Otto Julius Bierbaum, Irrgarten der Liebe. Verliebte, launenhafte und moralische Lieder, Gedichte und Sprüche aus den Jahren 1885 bis 1900, Berlin / Leipzig, Schuster und Loeffler, 1901, pages 32-33.

Text Authorship:

by Otto Julius Bierbaum (1865 - 1910), "Der jungen Hexe Lied", appears in Irrgarten der Liebe. Verliebte, launenhafte und moralische Lieder, Gedichte und Sprüche aus den Jahren 1885 bis 1900, in Lieder, first published 1901 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

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Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Alberto Pedrotti , Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 82

When by night I rode over the mountains

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Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

When by night I rode over the mountains,
Rack, schack, schacke, my little horse,
A strange ringing seemed to be riding along with me,
Kling, ling, klingelalei.

It was a beguilingly pleading sound,
It was as beautiful as the voices of children.

It was as if I were caressing a soft head of hair,
I felt so melancholy and wondrous.

Then the ringing disappeared all at once,
I gazed down into the deep valley.

There I saw light within my house,
Rack, schack, schacke, my little horse,
My little lad was looking out for his mother,
Kling, ling, klingelalei.

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Translations of titles
"Der jungen Hexe Lied" = "The song of the young witch"
"Junghexenlied" = "Song of the young witch"
"Lied der jungen Hexe" = "Song of the young witch"

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2012 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.
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Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Otto Julius Bierbaum (1865 - 1910), "Der jungen Hexe Lied", appears in Irrgarten der Liebe. Verliebte, launenhafte und moralische Lieder, Gedichte und Sprüche aus den Jahren 1885 bis 1900, in Lieder, first published 1901
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This text was added to the website: 2012-07-03
Line count: 14
Word count: 103