Snowdrops | For it was like a quiet singing

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by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Schneeglöckchen

(Sung text for setting by E. Korngold)

See original

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG SPA

'S war doch wie ein leises Singen
In dem Garten heute Nacht,
Wie wenn laue Lüfte gingen:
"Süße Glöcklein, nun erwacht,
Denn die warme Zeit wir bringen,
Eh's noch Jemand hat gedacht." --
'S war kein Singen, s' war ein Küssen,
Rührt die stillen Glöcklein sacht,
Daß sie alle tönen müssen
Von der künft'gen bunten Pracht.
Ach, sie konnten 's nicht erwarten,
Aber weiß vom letzten Schnee
War noch immer Feld und Garten,
Und sie sanken um vor Weh.
So schon manche Dichter streckten
Sangesmüde sich hinab,
Und der Frühling, den sie weckten,
Rauschet über ihrem Grab.

Composition:

Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Zwölf Lieder: So Gott und Papa will

Text Authorship:

by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857), "Schneeglöckchen", appears in Gedichte, in 4. Frühling und Liebe

See other settings of this text.

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

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Snowdrops", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Elisa Rapado) , "Campanitas de nieve", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

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

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 97

Snowdrops

(Sung text translation for setting by E. Korngold)

See original

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

For it was like a quiet singing
In the garden this past night,
As if warm breezes were saying:
"Sweet little bells, now wake up,
For we are bringing warm weather
Sooner than anyone might have thought."
It was not a singing, it was a kissing,
It gently touches the silent little bells,
So that they all had to ring out the tidings
Of the coming colourful splendour.
Ah, they could not await it,
But the fields and gardens
Were still white from the last snowfall
And the snowdrops sank to the ground for woe.
Thus many poets have already 
Lain down, weary of singing,
And the springtime that they wakened
Soughs over their graves.

Translator's note: The German word for "snowdrop" translates literally as "snow-bell", hence all the bell-ringing imagery in the poem.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2022 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 Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857), "Schneeglöckchen", appears in Gedichte, in 4. Frühling und Liebe
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This text was added to the website: 2022-11-23
Line count: 18
Word count: 116