The spinster | It's hard to bear

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Aasmund Olavsson Vinje (1818 - 1870)

Translation © by Nigel Parker

Attegløyma

(Sung text for setting by E. Grieg)

See original

Language: Norwegian (Nynorsk)

Our translations: ENG FRE GER

Hardt å halda ut:
enno ingen Gut!
Det er langt so lenge vona!
Mangein Gut saag eg,
som saag blidt paa meg,
men han tok meg ikkje til si Kona.

 ... 

Ung var eg ein Gang
full af Dans og Sang,
som den friske Blom eg blømde;
Gutar raudnad' daa,
naar dei paa meg saa;
men eg eldest, og dei fraa meg rømde.

 ... 

Ragnhild ho var klok,
som sin Gunnar tok,
om han enn vardt kalla "Knoken".
Havde ogso eg 
tenkt saa med meg:
"Best at bita paa den fyrste Kroken!"

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1,3,9 of the original text.

Composition:

Edvard Grieg

Text Authorship:

by Aasmund Olavsson Vinje (1818 - 1870), "Attegløyma"

See other settings of this text.

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

ENG English (Nigel Parker) , "The spinster", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "La vieille fille", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Die alte Jungfer", copyright © 2019, (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: 90
Word count: 433

The spinster

(Sung text translation for setting by E. Grieg)

See original

Language: English after the Norwegian (Nynorsk)

It's hard to bear:
still no husband!
I have waited so long!
Many a boy I met
who seemed to like me,
but who didn't propose!

 ... 

I was young then,
I danced and sang,
like a fresh flower in bloom.
They blushed then
to see me,
but I grew older, and they faded away.

 ... 

Ragnhild did better:
she accepted Gunnar,
him they called 'the Rake'.
If only I also 
had heeded the old saw:
'It's best to bite at the first fish hook!'

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1,3,9 of the original text.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Norwegian (Nynorsk) to English copyright © 2010 by Nigel Parker, (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 Norwegian (Nynorsk) by Aasmund Olavsson Vinje (1818 - 1870), "Attegløyma"
- Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view

This text was added to the website: 2010-08-09
Line count: 90
Word count: 107