Hier j'étais Atlas | Hier j'étais Atlas, qui portait les cieux

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by Friedrich Rückert (1788 - 1866)

Translation © by Guy Laffaille

Gestern war ich Atlas

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT ENG FRE

Gestern war ich Atlas, der den Himmel trug,
Als der Liebsten Herz auf meinem Busen schlug;
Ihrer Augen Sonnen kreisten über mir
Und wie Äther spielt um mich ihr Atemzug.

O zieh den Liebesknoten fester zu noch!
So lang ich athme fand ich keine Ruh' noch.
Laß mich in dir ausathmen! Mir fehlt etwas,
So lang ich etwas andres bin als du noch.

Mir ist dein Kuß je länger, je lieber,
Dein Arm ist mir je länger, je lieber,
Zwar macht dein Kuß, der lange, mir bange,
Mir [aber ist]¹ je bänger, je lieber.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• R. Strauss

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Strauss: "ist aber"

Text Authorship:

by Friedrich Rückert (1788 - 1866) [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 Richard Georg Strauss (1864 - 1949), "Gestern war ich Atlas", op. 46 no. 2 (1899), published 1900 [ voice and piano ], from Fünf Gedichte von Friedrich Rückert für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte, no. 2, Berlin, Fürstner [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Ahir jo era Atlas", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Yesterday I was Atlas", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Hier j'étais Atlas", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Alberto Pedrotti

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 95

Hier j'étais Atlas

Language: French (Français) after the German (Deutsch)

Hier j'étais Atlas, qui portait les cieux,
Quand le cœur de ma bien-aimée battait contre ma poitrine ;
Le soleil de ses yeux tournait au-dessus de moi
Et comme l'éther son souffle jouait autour de moi.

Oh, serre le nœud de l'amour encore plus fort !
Aussi longtemps que je respire que je ne trouve aucun repos.
Laisse-moi exhaler en toi ! Quelque chose me manque
Tant que je suis quelque chose d'autre que toi.

Pour moi ton baiser, plus il est long, plus il m'est cher,
Tes bras plus ils me serrent longtemps, plus ils me sont chers,
À la vérité ton baiser, ton long baiser, me rend anxieux,
Mais plus il me rend anxieux, plus je l'aime.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to French (Français) copyright © 2014 by Guy Laffaille, (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 Friedrich Rückert (1788 - 1866)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2014-06-22
Line count: 12
Word count: 116