Drei Zigeuner fand ich einmal
Liegen an einer Weide,
Als mein Fuhrwerk mit müder Qual
Schlich durch sandige Heide.

Hielt der eine für sich allein
In den Händen die Fiedel,
[Spielt']1, umglüht vom Abendschein,
Sich ein [feuriges]2 Liedel.

Hielt der zweite die Pfeif' im Mund,
Blickte nach seinem Rauche,
Froh, als ob er vom Erdenrund
Nichts zum Glücke mehr brauche.

Und der dritte behaglich schlief,
Und sein Zymbal am Baum hing;
Über die Saiten der Windhauch lief,
Über sein Herz ein Traum ging.

An den Kleidern trugen die drei
Löcher und bunte Flicken;
Aber sie boten trotzig frei
Spott den Erdengeschicken.

Dreifach haben sie mir gezeigt,
Wenn das Leben uns nachtet,
Wie man's [verraucht, verschläft]3, vergeigt,
Und es [dreifach]4 verachtet.

Nach den Zigeunern [lang']5 [noch schaun
Mußt ich]6 im Weiterfahren,
Nach den Gesichtern dunkelbraun,
[Den]7 schwarzlockigen Haaren.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Fischhof: "Spielte"
² Gund, Liszt, Shoeck: "lustiges" (from another version of Lenau)
³ Gund, Liszt, Schoeck: "verschläft, verraucht"
⁴ Fischhof: "dreimal"
⁵ Edelmann, Gund, Schoeck,: "lange"
⁶ Gund, Liszt, Schoeck: "noch/ Mußt ich schaun"
⁷ Gund, Liszt, Schoeck: "Nach den"

Authorship:

• by Nikolaus Lenau (1802 - 1850), "Die drei Zigeuner", appears in Gedichte, in 3. Drittes Buch, in Gestalten [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 Toni Edelmann (b. 1945), "Die drei Zigeuner ", published c2003 [ voice and piano ], from Herbstlieder, no. 6, Helsinki : Sulasol [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Nicola Elsenheimer , "Die drei Zigeuner", op. 2 (Drei Lieder für Sopran (oder Tenor) mit Pianoforte) no. 2, published 1890 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], Wiesbaden, Gebr. Schellenberg [sung text not yet checked]
• by Joseph Fischhof (1804 - 1857), "Drei Zigeuner" [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Robert Gund (1865 - 1927), "Die drei Zigeuner", op. 10933 no. 1, published 1899 [ voice and piano ], Wien, Berté & Co. [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Max J. L. Gus , "Drei Zigeuner", published 1893 [ voice and piano ], from Zwölf Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung (Heft 1), no. 10, Wiesbaden, Wolff [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ferdinand von Hiller (1811 - 1885), "Die drei Zigeuner", op. 42 (3 Gesänge für Bass oder Bariton mit Pianoforte) no. 1, published 1849 [ bass or baritone and piano ], Cöln, Schloss [sung text not yet checked]
• by Franz (Ferenc) Liszt (1811 - 1886), "Die drei Zigeuner", S. 320 (1860), published 1860-71 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Heinrich Proch (1809 - 1878), "Die drei Zigeuner", op. 191, published 1856 [ voice and piano ], Wien, Spina [sung text not yet checked]
• by Theodor Raillard (1864 - 1929), "Die drei Zigeuner", published 1891 [ voice and piano ], from Fünf Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte, no. 2, Berlin, Raabe & Plothow [sung text not yet checked]
• by Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (1829 - 1894), "Die drei Zigeuner ", published 1875 [ voice and piano ], from Sechs Lieder, no. 5, Leipzig, Senff; note: published separately before 1875 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Sárvár-Felsővidéki gróf Széchényi Imre (1825 - 1898), "Die drei Zigeuner ", published 1892 [ voice and piano ], from Sechs Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung, no. 6, Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Othmar Schoeck (1886 - 1957), "Die drei Zigeuner", op. 24a no. 4 (1909-14) [ voice and piano ], from Lieder nach Gedichten von Lenau, Hebbel, Dehmel und Spitteler, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "The three Gypsies", copyright ©
• ENG English (Walter A. Aue) , "The Three Gypsies", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English [singable] (Arthur Westbrook) , "The three gypsies"
• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Les trois tsiganes", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• POR Portuguese (Português) (Margarida Moreno) , "Os três ciganos", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 28
Word count: 137

Three Gypsies I found once
lying by a willow,
as my cart with weary torture
crawled over the sandy heath.

One, for himself alone, was holding 
his fiddle in his hands,
playing, as the sunset glow surrounded him,
a merry little tune.

The second held a pipe in his mouth
and watched his smoke
with cheer, as if from the world
he required nothing more for his happiness.

And the third slept comfortably:
from the tree hung his cymbalom;
over its strings the wind's breath ran;
in his heart a dream was playing.

On the clothing those three wore
were holes and colorful patches;
but, defiantly free, they made
a mockery of earthly fate.

Trebly they showed me
how, when life grows dark for us,
one can smoke, sleep or play it away,
and thus trebly to scorn it.

At the Gypsies, longer yet
I had to gaze in passing,
at their dark brown faces,
at their black-locked hair.