So quiet are the green woods

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by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

So leise sind die grünen Wälder

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG FRE

So leise sind die grünen Wälder 
Unsrer Heimat,
Die kristallne Woge
Hinsterbend an verfallner Mauer
Und wir haben im Schlaf geweint;
Wandern mit zögernden Schritten
An der dornigen Hecke hin
Singende im Abendsommer,
In heiliger Ruh
Des fern verstrahlenden Weinbergs;
Schatten nun im kühlen Schoß
Der Nacht, trauernde Adler.
So leise schließt ein mondener Strahl
Die purpurnen Male der Schwermut.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914), no title, appears in Sebastian im Traum, in Gesang des Abgeschiedenen, in Abendland, no. 2 [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 Anton von Webern (1883 - 1945), "Abendland II", op. 14 (Sechs Lieder nach Gedichten von Georg Trakl (Six songs on poems of Georg Trakl)) no. 3 (1919) [ voice, clarinet, violin, and cello ] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Occident II", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Jeroen Scholten

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 60

So quiet are the green woods

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

So quiet are the green woods 
of our homeland, 
the crystalline swell 
dying on a ruined wall, 
and we have wept in sleep; 
wand’ring with lingering steps 
down by the thorny hedge.
Singers in summer’s night, 
in the sacred peace 
of the far away glowing vineyard; 
shadows now in the cool womb 
of the night, eagles mourning. 
So quietly does a moonbeam soothe 
the purple stigmata of gloom.

About the headline (FAQ)

Note: The title of the collection, "Abendland", could be translated "Occident"

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2016 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:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914), no title, appears in Sebastian im Traum, in Gesang des Abgeschiedenen, in Abendland, no. 2
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2016-06-24
Line count: 14
Word count: 68