He who wishes to be sorrowful might perhaps read me

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by Berthold Viertel (1885 - 1953)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Traurigkeit

(Sung text for setting by H. Eisler)

See original

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG ENG

Wer traurig sein will, wird vielleicht mich lesen,
Und er wird denken zwischen den Zeilen:
"Ja, traurig ist auch dieser Mensch gewesen.
Aber kann seine Traurigkeit die meine heilen?"
 
Ich will dich nicht über die Gründe fragen
Der Traurigkeit, du Mensch der besseren Zeiten.
Die meine wird dir die Geschichte sagen,
Die Jahresdaten meiner Traurigkeiten.

Composition:

Hanns Eisler

Ernste Gesänge

Text Authorship:

by Berthold Viertel (1885 - 1953), "Wer traurig sein will", appears in Der Lebenslauf. Gedichte, in Stimmen der Zeit

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

ENG English (Dr. Anthony Krupp) , "Sadness", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

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

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 58

Sadness

(Sung text translation for setting by H. Eisler)

See original

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

He who wishes to be sorrowful might perhaps read me,
And between the lines he shall think:
"Yes, this person, too, was sorrowful.
 But can his sadness heal mine?"

I do not wish to ask you about your reasons
For sadness, you human of better times.
Mine shall be told to you by history,
The dates of the years of my sorrows.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2016 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 Berthold Viertel (1885 - 1953), "Wer traurig sein will", appears in Der Lebenslauf. Gedichte, in Stimmen der Zeit
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This text was added to the website: 2016-04-15
Line count: 8
Word count: 61