LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,102)
  • Text Authors (19,442)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

×

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Translation © by Pierre Mathé

Sie hindern mich nicht. Sie lassen mich...
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  FRE
Sie hindern mich nicht. Sie lassen mich gehn.
Sie sagen, es könne nichts geschehn.
Wie gut.
Es kann nichts geschehn. Alles kommt und kreist
immerfort um den heiligen Geist,
um den gewissen Geist (du weißt) -,
wie gut.
 
Nein, man muß wirklich nicht meinen, es sei
irgend eine Gefahr dabei.
Da ist freilich das Blut.
Das Blut ist das Schwerste. Das Blut ist schwer.
Manchmal glaub ich, ich kann nicht mehr -.
(Wie gut.)
 
Ah, was ist das für ein schöner Ball;
rot und rund wie ein Überall.
Gut, daß ihr ihn erschuft.
Ob der wohl kommt, wenn man ruft?
 
Wie sich das alles seltsam benimmt,
ineinandertreibt, auseinanderschwimmt:
freundlich, ein wenig unbestimmt.
Wie gut.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Das Buch der Bilder von Rainer Maria Rilke, Leipzig, Iminsel-Verlag, 1920, page 139.


Text Authorship:

  • by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Das Lied des Idioten", appears in Das Buch der Bilder, in Die Stimmen: Neun Blätter mit einem Titelblatt, no. 7, first published 1906 [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 Thomas Taxus Beck (b. 1962), "Lied des Idioten" [ woodwind quintet and voices ], from Träume für Bläserquintett und Stimmen. Nach Texten von Rilke, Ingeborg Bachmann, Joseph Brodsky, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Antal Doráti (1906 - 1988), "Das Lied des Idioten", 1975, orchestrated 1978 [ bass and piano or orchestra ], from Die Stimmen, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Hans Huyssen (b. 1964), "Das Lied des Idioten", 1992, first performed 1998 [ baritone and guitar ], from Die Stimmen, no. 4, Unveröffentliches Manuskript [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Ben Brian Weber (1916 - 1979), "Lied des Idioten", op. 10 (1941) [ voice and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, a translation by Albert Ernest Flemming , "Song of the idiot", appears in Rainer Maria Rilke: Selected Poems, first published 1986, copyright © ; composed by Stephen Paulus.
    • Go to the text.

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

  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-09-14
Line count: 21
Word count: 114

Ils ne me contrarient pas. Ils me...
Language: French (Français)  after the German (Deutsch) 
Ils ne me contrarient pas. Ils me laissent aller.
Ils disent que rien ne pourrait arriver.
C'est bon.
Rien ne peut arriver. Tout arrive et tourne
pour toujours autour de l'esprit saint,
autour d'un certain esprit (tu sais),
C'est bon.

Non, ça ne veut vraiment pas dire
Qu'il y aurait là-dedans un danger.
À dire vrai, c'est le sang.
Le sang est la chose la plus lourde. Le sang est lourd.
Je crois parfois que je ne peux plus rien.
(C'est bon.)

Ah, voilà un jolie balle ;
rouge et ronde, comme omniprésente.
C'est bien que vous l'ayez faite.
Vient-elle quand on l'appelle ?

Comme toutes ces choses ont d'étranges noms,
s'entremêlent, partent à la dérive :
c'est gentil, un peu incertain.
C'est bon.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translation of title "Das Lied des Idioten = "La chanson de l'idiot"

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to French (Français) copyright © 2016 by Pierre Mathé, (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 Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Das Lied des Idioten", appears in Das Buch der Bilder, in Die Stimmen: Neun Blätter mit einem Titelblatt, no. 7, first published 1906
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2016-02-15
Line count: 21
Word count: 121

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris