L'éphémère | Pourquoi si peu ? N’aimes-tu plus aujourd’hui chanter

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by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843)

Translation © by Stéphane Goldet, Pierre de Rosamel

Die Kürze

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: FRE

«Warum bist du so kurz? liebst du, wie vormals, denn
   «Nun nicht mehr den Gesang? fandst du, als Jüngling, doch,
      «In den Tagen der Hoffnung,
         «Wenn du sangest, das Ende nie!

Wie mein Glück, ist mein Lied. -- Willst du im Abendroth
   Froh dich baden? hinweg ists! und die Erd' ist kalt,
      Und der Vogel der Nacht schwirrt
         Unbequem vor das Auge dir.

Text Authorship:

by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843) [author's text not yet checked 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 Olivier Greif (1950 - 2000), "Die Kürze", op. 270 no. 3 (1991) [ voice and piano ], from Wie Vögel…, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020), "Die Kürze", op. 31 no. 3, published 1980, first performed 1981 [ voice and organ ], from Schicksalslieder (Pesny sud'by), no. 3, also set in Russian (Русский) [sung text checked 1 time]
by Otto Vrieslander (1880 - 1950), "Die Kürze" [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020) ; composed by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov.
- Go to the text.

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

FRE French (Français) (Stéphane Goldet) (Pierre de Rosamel) , "L'éphémère", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Dmitri Smirnov

This text was added to the website: 2008-03-17
Line count: 8
Word count: 62

L'éphémère

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

Pourquoi si peu ? N’aimes-tu plus aujourd’hui chanter
comme naguère ? Quand tu chantais, éphèbe,
aux jours de l’espérance,
tu n’en finissais  jamais, n’est-ce pas ?

Mon chant est comme ma bonne étoile —veux-tu
t’immerger joyeusement dans le couchant ? Arrière,
la terre est froide, et l’oiseau de nuit volète
troublant ton regard.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to French (Français) copyright © 2015 by Stéphane Goldet and Pierre de Rosamel, (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 Hölderlin (1770 - 1843)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-12-26
Line count: 8
Word count: 49