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On the day when death will knock at thy door, what wilt thou offer to him? Oh, I will set before my guest the full vessel of my life; I will never let him go with empty hands. All the sweet vintage of all my autumn days and summer nights, all the earnings and gleanings of my busy life, will I place before him at the close of my days when death will knock at my door.
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Authorship:
- by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 90, first published 1912 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 90 [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Josef Alexander (1907 - 1992), "On the day", 1973 [ soprano, harpsichord, and percussion ], from Gitanjali, no. 9 [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Alden Carpenter (1876 - 1951), "On the day when death will knock at thy door", published 1914 [ voice and piano ], from Gitanjali (Song Offerings), no. 2, New York, G. Schirmer [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Finnish (Suomi), a translation by Helmi Krohn (1871 - 1967) ; composed by Erkki Gustaf Melartin.
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- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Henri-Pierre Poupard, as Henri Sauguet.
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- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Marie Luise Gothein (1863 - 1931) , first published 1914 ; composed by Stefan Wolpe.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Thomas Schubert (b. 1961) , copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission [an adaptation] ; composed by Thomas Schubert.
- Also set in Swedish (Svenska), a translation by Nino (Hjalmar) Runeberg (1874 - 1934) ; composed by Erkki Gustaf Melartin.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Thomas Schubert) , copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission [an adaptation]
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Geoffrey Wieting
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 77
Am Tage, da der Tod an deine Pforte klopft, was wirst du ihm denn bieten? Ach, meines Lebens voll’ Gefäß werd’ meinem Gast ich reichen; nie werd’ ich ihn mit leeren Händen gehen lassen. Die ganze süße Lese meiner Herbstestag’ und Sommernächte, all dies, was ich in meinem Leben hab’ erworben und geerntet, stelle ich ihm bereit am Ende meiner Tage, an dem der Tod an meine Pforte klopft.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
- Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2014 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 Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 90, first published 1912
Based on:
- a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 90 [text unavailable]
This text was added to the website: 2014-07-21
Line count: 8
Word count: 69