The trout | A crystal stream was flowing

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by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739 - 1791)

Translation © by Daniel Platt

Die Forelle

Language: German (Deutsch)

Available translation(s): CAT CHI DUT ENG ENG ENG ENG FIN FRE GRE ITA

In einem Bächlein helle,
Da schoß in froher Eil
Die launische Forelle
Vorüber, wie ein Pfeil:
Ich stand an dem Gestade,
Und sah' in süsser Ruh
Des muntern [Fisches]¹ Bade
Im klaren Bächlein zu.

Ein Fischer mit der Ruthe
Wol an dem Ufer stand,
Und sah's mit kaltem Blute
Wie sich das Fischlein wand.
So lang dem Wasser Helle,
So dacht' ich, nicht gebricht,
So fängt er die Forelle
Mit seiner Angel nicht.

Doch [endlich]² ward dem Diebe
Die Zeit zu lang; er macht
Das Bächlein tückisch trübe:
Und eh' ich es gedacht,
So zuckte seine Ruthe;
Das Fischlein zappelt dran;
Und ich, mit regem Blute,
Sah die Betrogne an.

[Ihr, die ihr noch am]³ Quelle
Der sichern Jugend weilt,
Denkt doch an die Forelle;
Seht ihr Gefahr, so eilt!
Meist fehlt ihr nur aus Mangel
Der Klugheit; Mädchen, seht
Verführer mit der Angel -
Sonst blutet ihr zu spät.

F. Schubert sets stanzas 1-3

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Chr. Daniel Friedrich Schubarts Gedichte aus dem Kerker. Mit allerhöchst-gnädist Kaiserl. Privilegio. Carlsruhe, bey Christian Gottlieb Schmieder 1785, pages 228-229; with Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubarts sämtliche Gedichte. Von ihm selbst herausgegeben. Zweiter Band. Stuttgart, in der Buchdruckerei der Herzoglichen Hohen Carlsschule, 1786, pages 139-140; and with Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart's Gedichte. Herausgegeben von seinem Sohne Ludwig Schubart. Zweyter Theil. Frankfurt am Main 1802, bey J. C. Hermann, pages 302-303.

Schubart, who set the poem himself, had an additional stanza (between stanza 3 and 4) which he supressed in the printed edition:

So scheust auch manche Schöne
Im vollen Strom der Zeit
Und sieht nicht die Sirene
Die ihr im Wirbel dräut.
Sie folgt dem Drang der Liebe
Und eh' sie sichs versieht
So wird das Bächlein trübe
Und ihre Unschuld flieht.

¹ Schubert: "Fischleins"
² Schubart (1786 and 1802 editions): "plözlich"
³ Schubart (1786 and 1802 editions): "Die ihr am goldnen"

Note: Schubert produced over the years four copies of Die Forelle, resulting in five slightly different versions. The third version, dedicated to Josef Hüttenbrenner and presumably written down from memory, has the final two lines (of stanza 3) differently:

Ich sah mit regem Blute
Das arme Fischlein an.

Authorship:

by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739 - 1791), "Die Forelle", written 1782-83 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Friedrich August Baumbach (1753 - 1813), "Die Forelle" [ voice and piano ], from Lyrische Gedichte vermischten Inhalts mit Melodie zum Singen beim Klavier, no. 2, Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739 - 1791), "Die Forelle", 1783 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Die Forelle", D 550 (1817?), stanzas 1-3 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

Research team for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 150

The trout

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

A crystal stream was flowing,
While swiftly through the reeds
A wayward trout was going,
That like an arrow speeds.
Along the shore I tarried
And watched, as in a dream,
The rainbow fish make merry
Within the crystal stream.

With's rod I saw him stand there,
The callous fisher-man,
He watched the trout meander
From there upon the strand.
If water stays transparent,
I thought, without a doubt,
The fisherman so errant
Will never catch the trout.

Yet suddenly the bandit
Lost patience, and it seems,
Ere I could understand it,
He muddied up the stream.
He took his rod and flicked 'em,
The fish began to thrash,
I saw the hapless victim
Was landed in a flash.

By golden springs ye wander
In youth's security,
The trout's fate must ye ponder:
When danger nears, then flee!
Be wise, ye girls, remember,
Perhaps there lies in wait
The fish-pole of the tempter!
Or else ye bleed too late!

Authorship:

Singable translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2014 by Daniel Platt, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., please ask the copyright-holder(s) directly.
Daniel Platt. Contact: abelard2 (AT) aol (DOT) com

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Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739 - 1791), "Die Forelle", written 1782-83

This text was added to the website: 2014-10-16
Line count: 32
Word count: 159