Dem Herbste | O Herbst, mit Frucht behangen, und gefärbt

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by William Blake (1757 - 1827)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained

Language: English

Our translations: GER RUS

O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof; there thou may'st rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe,
And all the daughters of the year shall dance!
Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers. 

"The narrow bud opens her beauties to
The sun, and love runs in her thrilling veins;
Blossoms hang round the brows of Morning, and
Flourish down the bright cheek of modest Eve,
Till clust'ring Summer breaks forth into singing,
And feather'd clouds strew flowers round her head.

The spirits of the air live on the smells
Of fruit; and Joy, with pinions light, roves round
The gardens, or sits singing in the trees."
[Thus sang the jolly Autumn as he sat;
Then rose, girded himself, and o'er the bleak
Hills fled from our sight; but left his golden load.]¹

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• J. Dove

J. Dove sets stanzas 2-3

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¹ omitted by Dove.

Text Authorship:

by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "To Autumn" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by William Henry Bell (1873 - 1946), "Autumn", 1940, from Twelve Blake Songs, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by Caspar J. Diethelm (b. 1926), "To Autumn", op. 153 no. 3 (1977) [ mixed chorus a cappella ], from 5 Madrigale, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by Jonathan Dove (b. 1959), "Songs", 2000, stanzas 2-3, from The Passing of the Year, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
by (Charles William) Eric Fogg (1903 - 1939), "Autumn", published 1931 [ chorus and orchestra ], from The Seasons, no. 3, London : Elkin & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
by Lloyd Alvin Pfautsch (b. 1921), "Autumn", published c1982 [ mixed chorus a cappella ], from Seasonal Songs, New York: Lawson-Gould (G. Schirmer) ; words adapted [sung text not yet checked]
by Laurence Powell (1899 - 1990), "To Autumn", op. 12 no. 3, published 1928 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from The Seasons, no. 3, London: J. Williams [sung text not yet checked]
by Bruce Stuart Saylor (b. 1946), "To Autumn", 1968 [ high soprano, mixed chorus, and orchestra ], from To Autumn, and To Winter, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020), "To Autumn", op. 28 no. 3, published 1979, first performed 1980 [ voice, flute, viola, and harp ], from The Seasons, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by Bernard George Stevens (1916 - 1983), "To Autumn", op. 32 no. 2 (1961), first performed 1963 [ women's chorus and strings or piano ], from Two Poetical Sketches for Women's Voices and String Orchestra (or Piano), no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by Ronald Stevenson (b. 1928), "To Autumn", 1965 [ soprano and descant recorder ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Ben Brian Weber (1916 - 1979), "To Autumn ", op. 33 no. 1 (1951), published c1954, first performed 1952 [ baritone and chamber orchestra ], from Symphony on Poems of William Blake, no. 1, NY : American Composers Alliance [sung text not yet checked]
by John David White (b. 1931), "To Autumn", first performed 1970 [ baritone, mixed chorus, and orchestra ], from Cantos of the Year, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by Alice Crane Williams , "Autumn's song", published c1960 [ low voice and piano ], NY : Paragon Music Publishers [sung text not yet checked]
by William Brocklesby Wordsworth (1908 - 1988), "To Autumn", op. 33 no. 3, published 1948 [ medium voice and string trio ], from The Four Seasons, no. 3, London : A. Lengnick [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in Danish (Dansk), a translation by Kai Friis Møller (1888 - 1960) , copyright © ; composed by Peder Holm.

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

CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Jeseni"
RUS Russian (Русский) [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "К Осени", first published 1979, copyright ©, (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: 18
Word count: 152

Dem Herbste

Language: German (Deutsch) after the English

O Herbst, mit Frucht behangen, und gefärbt
vom Blut der Weins, geh nicht vorbei, nimm Platz
im Schatten meines Dachs; dort magst du ruh'n,
und frohgemut einstimmen in mein muntres Flötenspiel,
und tanzen sollen all die Töchter dieses Jahres!
Stimm an den fröhlichen Gesang der Früchte und der Blumen.

Auf springt die winz'ge Knosp' und zeigt der Sonn' all ihre
Anmut, und schauernd pocht die Lieb' in ihren Adern;
die Stirn des Morgens ist behängt mit Blüten, die alsdann
des zücht'gen Abends lichte Wangen zier'n,
bis sie der Sommer schart und hebt zu singen an,
und Federwölkchen streuen Blumen um sein Haupt.

Der Lüfte Geister zehren von der Früchte
Duft; und Freude streicht mit Schwingen leicht
durch Gärten; auch sitzt sie singend in den Bäumen.
So sang denn auch der heit're Herbst, als er da saß,
sich dann erhob und gürtete, und über kahle Hügel fliehend
sich unserm Blick entzog, wiewohl er seine gold'ne Fracht uns hinterließ.

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2013 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Bertram Kottmann. Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in English by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "To Autumn"
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2013-11-04
Line count: 18
Word count: 157