×
Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.
It is illegal to copy and distribute copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.
Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.
See below for more information.
by Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)
Translation © by Bertram Kottmann
Tread lightly, she is near
Language: English
Tread lightly, she is near Under the snow, Speak gently, she can hear The daisies grow. All her bright golden hair Tarnished with rust, She that was young and fair Fallen to dust. Lily-like, white as snow, She hardly knew She was a woman so Sweetly she grew. Coffin-board, heavy stone, Lie on her breast. I vex my heart alone, She is at rest. Peace, Peace, she cannot hear Lyre or sonnet, All my life's buried here, Heap earth upon it.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), "Requiescat", from Poems, first published 1881 [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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Requiescat", 2009 [ baritone and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Eric William Barnum (b. 1979), "Requiescat", published 2007 [ chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Berger , "Requiescat", 1979 [ 2 sopranos, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Howard Leake Boatwright (1918 - 1999), "Requiescat", 1954 [ soprano and piano ], from Five Early Songs, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Carsten Braun (b. 1978), "Requiescat", 2013, first performed 2013 [ voice and piano ], from Spirits of the Dead. Liederzyklus nach Gedichten englischsprachiger Autoren [sung text not yet checked]
- by George Sainton Kaye Butterworth (1885 - 1916), "Requiescat", 1911, published 1920 [ voice and piano ], from Two Songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Kathleen Blair Clarke (b. 1888), "Requiescat", published 1919 [ voice and piano ], from Four Songs, G. Schirmer [sung text not yet checked]
- by Henry Clough-Leighter (1874 - 1956), "Requiescat", op. 57 no. 6, published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by George Cory (b. 1920?), "Requiescat", published 1951 [ medium voice and piano ], from Four Settings of British Poets [sung text not yet checked]
- by Luigi Dallapiccola (1904 - 1975), "Tread lightly, she is near", published 1960 [ SATB chorus, children's chorus, and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Matthew Emery (b. 1991), "Requiescat", 2011-12, first performed 2012 [ soprano and piano ], from Three Songs of Mourning, no. 2, premiered March 2012 (Part of the Vancouver International Song Institute 2012) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ferenc Farkas (1905 - 2000), "Requiescat", 1993, copyright © 1996 [ voice and piano ], from Orpheus respiciens, no. 7, Ascolta Publishing [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sinéad Finegan , "Requiescat", 2014, first performed 2014 [ women's chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by André van Haren (b. 1963), "Requiescat", 1995 [ mixed chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Trowbridge Haubiel (1892 - 1978), "Requiescat", op. 3 (1931), published 1937 [ women's chorus, string quartet, and strings ], from L'amore spiritual [sung text not yet checked]
- by Harold Vincent Jervis-Read (1883 - 1945), "At rest", op. 21, first performed 1910 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert William Jones (1932 - 1997), "Requiescat" [ tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert William Jones (1932 - 1997), "Requiescat" [ tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Michael Linton , "Requiescat", 2016-2017 [ bass-baritone and piano ], from Wilde songs, no. 8 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Otto Luening (1900 - 1996), "Requiescat", 1917 [ soprano and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Riccardo Malipiero (1914 - 2003), "Requiescat", 1986-1987 [ voice and orchestra ], from Loneliness, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by George Frederick McKay (1899 - 1970), "Requiescat", 1932 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by David Sydney Morgan (b. 1932), "Requiescat", 1999 [ mixed chorus and brass ], from Canti sacri e profane [sung text not yet checked]
- by Thomas Pasatieri (b. 1945), "Requiescat", 1998 [ voice and piano ], from Three Poems of Oscar Wilde, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022), "Requiescat", 1997, published 1999, from Evidence of Things Not Seen, no. 22 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jonathan Rutherford (b. 1953), "Requiescat", 1978 [ soprano, clarinet, and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Evelyn Sharpe (1884 - 1969), "Requiescat", published 1925 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by David Van Vactor (b. 1906), "Requiescat", 1932, published 1944 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Raymond Wilding-White (1922 - 2001), "Requiescat" [ chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gordon Ellsworth Young (b. 1919), "Requiescat", published 1954 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Otto Hauser (1876 - 1944) , "Requiescat" ; composed by Erwin Schulhoff.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Bertram Kottmann , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission ; composed by Gary Bachlund.
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Mikhail Alekseyevich Kuzmin (1872 - 1936) , "Requiescat" ; composed by Aleksandr Abramovich Kreyn.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 81
Ruhe in Frieden
Language: German (Deutsch) after the English
Schreit’ sachte, hier ruht sie in kalter Erd’, und flüstre, dass sie die Maßliebchen hört. Ihr Haar, schimmernd wie Gold, welkte wie Laub. Sie, die einst jung und hold, zerfiel zu Staub. Lilienrein und zart des kaum gewahr, dass schon zur Frau sie ward, ging sie ins Jahr. Sarg, Erd und schwerer Stein decken sie nun, mir bleibt die Qual allein, ihr ist die Ruh. Friede und Ruh sei ihr, kein Wort, kein Lied, mein ganzes Sein liegt hier, begrabt es mit.
Translation of title "Requiescat" = "Ruhe in Frieden - Totengebet"
Researcher for this page: Bertram Kottmann
Anmerkung des Übersetzers:
Der Tod seiner zwei Jahre jüngeren Schwester Isola (1857 - 1867) machte Oscar Wilde untröstlich.
Sieben Jahre später schrieb er ‘Requiescat’. Als Wilde 1900 starb, fand man bei ihm einen Briefumschlag mit Isolas Locken.
Text Authorship:
- by Bertram Kottmann , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), "Requiescat", from Poems, first published 1881
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Ruhe in Frieden" [baritone and piano] [ sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Bertram Kottmann
This text was added to the website: 2014-10-19
Line count: 20
Word count: 82