On Death | The span of my life is passing

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 Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (1715 - 1769)

Translation © by Emily Ezust

Vom Tode

(Sung text for setting by L. Beethoven)

See original

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT DUT ENG FRE ITA

Meine Lebenszeit verstreicht,
Stündlich eil ich zu dem Grabe,
Und was ist's, das ich vielleicht,
Das ich noch zu leben habe?
Denk, o Mensch, an deinen Tod!
Säume nicht, denn Eins ist Not!

 ...

Note: the text above is taken from stanza 1 of the original text.

Mimicked by Daumer in the first stanza of his free translation from Hafis, Meine Lebenszeit verstreicht.

Composition:

Ludwig van Beethoven

Sechs Lieder nach Gedichten von Gellert

IMSLP

Text Authorship:

by Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (1715 - 1769)

See other settings of this text.

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Jordi López Jové) , "Sobre la mort", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Over de dood", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "On Death", copyright ©
FRE French (Français) (Angelika Frenzel) , "De la Mort", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Amelia Maria Imbarrato) , "Della morte", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Vinzenz Haab

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 42
Word count: 225

On Death

(Sung text translation for setting by L. Beethoven)

See original

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

The span of my life is passing;
every hour I hurry toward the grave,
and what is it, that perhaps 
I must live for still?
Think, o man, upon Death!
Do not delay, for that is the one thing you need yet to do!

 ...

Note: the text above is taken from stanza 1 of the original text.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust
Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:
Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
from the LiederNet Archive
For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.
licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (1715 - 1769)
- Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 42
Word count: 44