by Roden Berkeley Wriothesley Noel (1834 - 1894)
Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Sea slumber song
Language: English 
Our translations:  CAT CAT GER ITA
Sea-birds are asleep,
The world forgets to weep,
Sea murmurs her soft slumber-song
On the shadowy sand
Of this elfin land;
"I, the Mother mild, 
Hush thee, O my child,
Forget the voices wild!
Isles in elfin light
Dream, the rocks and caves,
Lull'd by whispering waves,
Veil their marbles bright.
Foam glimmers faintly white
Upon the shelly sand
Of this elfin land;
Sea-sound, like violins,
To slumber woos and wins,
I murmur my soft slumber-song,
Leave woes, and wails, and sins,
Ocean's shadowy might
Breathes good night,
  Good night!"

Confirmed with Stedman, Edmund Clarence, ed. A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895, Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1895, Bartleby.com, 2003. www.bartleby.com/246/474.html.


Text Authorship:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Cançó de bressol del mar", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Manuel Capdevila i Font) , "Cançó de bressol del mar", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Meeresschlummerlied", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Ninna nanna marina", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 22
Word count: 90

Meeresschlummerlied
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the English 
Seevögel nicht mehr wach,
die Welt vergisst ihr Ach,
die See raunt sanft ihr Schlummerlied
auf dämmrigem Sand
im Elfenland:
"Ich, die Mutter mild,
bring’ dich zur Ruh’, mein Kind,
vergiss die Stimmen wild!
Inseln im Elfenlicht -
traum, Fels und Höhlen am Kliff,
von flüsternden Wellen gewiegt,
verhüllt ist die marmorne Pracht.
Gischt schimmert zaghaft weiß
auf dem muschligen Sand
dort im Elfenland;
Meeresklang Geigen gleicht,
Flirten dem Schlummer weicht,
ich singe mein sanft’ Schlummerlied,
geht, Jammer, Sünd’ und Leid.
Meeres dämmrige Macht
haucht gute Nacht
Gut' Nacht."

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2015 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

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Based on:

 

This text was added to the website: 2015-08-07
Line count: 22
Word count: 88