In the wood | You birds in the swinging branches

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by August von Platen-Hallermünde (1796 - 1835)

Translation © by Tinelot Wittermans

Im Walde

(Sung text for setting by F. Mendelssohn)

See original

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT DUT DUT ENG FRE

Ihr Vögel in den Zweigen schwank,
Wie seid ihr froh und frisch und frank
Und trillert Morgenchöre.
Ich fühle mich im Herzen krank,
Wenn ich's von unten höre.

Ein Stündchen nur schleich' ich heraus
In euer lustig Sommerhaus
Und muss mich des beklagen;
Ihr lebet stets in Saus und Braus,
Seht's nachten hier und tagen.

Ihr sucht der Bäume grünes Dach,
Der Wiese Schmelz, den Kieselbach,
Ihr flieht vor Stadt and Mauer,
Und laßt die Menschen seufzen ach,
In ihrem Vogelbauer.

Composition:

Felix Mendelssohn

Text Authorship:

by August von Platen-Hallermünde (1796 - 1835), no title, appears in Gedichte, in Romanzen und Jugendlieder, no. 27

See other settings of this text.

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Tinelot Wittermans) , "O vogels op je schommelende tak", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Lau Kanen) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Tinelot Wittermans) , "In the wood", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Vous les oiseaux, dans le balancement des rameaux", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Tinelot Wittermans

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 85

In the wood

(Sung text translation for setting by F. Mendelssohn)

See original

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

You birds in the swinging branches,
How merry and fresh and free are you
With your trembling morning choirs.
I feel sick at heart
When I hear it from down below.

I sneak outside for an hour
To go to your pleasant summer house
I must complain about my fate;
You live in fun and happiness,
In the trees, day and night.

You seek the green roof of the wood,
The pastures green, the streams with stones;
You flee from town and wall
And leave the people to sigh, oh,
In their birdcage.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Tinelot Wittermans, (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 August von Platen-Hallermünde (1796 - 1835), no title, appears in Gedichte, in Romanzen und Jugendlieder, no. 27
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This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 93