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by Wilhelm Müller (1794 - 1827)
Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Das Mühlenleben
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG
Seh' ich sie am Bache sitzen,
Wenn sie Fliegennetze strickt,
Oder Sonntags für die Fenster
Frische Wiesenblumen pflückt;

Seh' ich sie zum Garten wandeln,
Mit dem Körbchen in der Hand,
Nach den ersten Beeren spähen
An der grünen Dornenwand:

Dann [wird's eng' in meiner Mühle]1,
Alle Mauern ziehn sich ein,
Und ich möchte flugs ein Fischer,
Jäger oder Gärtner sein.

Und der Steine lustig Pfeifen,
Und des Wasserrad's Gebraus,
Und der Werke emsig Klappern,
'S jagt mich [fast]2 zum Thor hinaus.

Aber wenn in guter Stunde
Plaudernd sie zum Burschen tritt,
Und als kluges Kind des Hauses
Seitwärts nach dem Rechten sieht;

Und verständig lobt den Einen,
Daß der Andre merken mag,
Wie er's besser treiben solle,
Geht er ihrem Danke nach -

Keiner fühlt sich recht getroffen,
Und doch schießt sie nimmer fehl,
Jeder muß von Schonung sagen,
Und doch hat sie keinen Hehl.

Keiner wünscht, sie möchte gehen,
Steht sie auch als Herrin da,
Und fast wie das Auge Gottes
Ist ihr Bild uns immer nah. [-]3

Ei, da mag das Mühlenleben
Wohl des Liedes würdig sein,
Und die Räder, Stein' und Stampfen
Stimmen als Begleitung ein.

Alles geht in schönem Tanze
Auf und ab, und ein und aus:
Gott gesegne mir das Handwerk
Und des guten Meisters Haus!

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   J. Lang 

J. Lang sets stanza 1

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Gedichte aus den hinterlassenen Papieren eines reisenden Waldhornisten. Herausgegeben von Wilhelm Müller. Erstes Bändchen. Zweite Auflage. Deßau 1826. Bei Christian Georg Ackermann, pages 16-18; and with Sieben und siebzig Gedichte aus den hinterlassenen Papieren eines reisenden Waldhornisten. Herausgegeben von Wilhelm Müller. Dessau, 1821. Bei Christian Georg Ackermann, pages 17-19.

1 Müller (1821 edition): "wird mir die Mühle enge"
2 Müller (1821 edition): "schier"
3 Müller (1821 edition) has an additional stanza:
Und wo wer zum Fallen strauchelt,
Hält es ihn im Sinken schier,
Und wo ich die Hände falte,
Kniet es still zur Seite mir -

Text Authorship:

  • by Wilhelm Müller (1794 - 1827), "Das Mühlenleben", appears in Gedichte aus den hinterlassenen Papieren eines reisenden Waldhornisten 1, in Die schöne Müllerin, no. 8, first published 1821 [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 Josephine Lang (1815 - 1880), "Das Mühlenleben", stanza 1 [ voice and piano ], unpublished, undated, incomplete [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Life at the mill", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2009-02-10
Line count: 40
Word count: 214

Life at the mill
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
When I see her sitting at the brook,
Knitting her fly nets,
Or on Sundays when for the windows
She picks fresh meadow flowers;
 
When I see her walking to the garden
With a little basket in her hand,
Looking for the first berries
Upon the thorny greenery:
 
Then I feel too confined in my mill,
All the walls seem to be closing in on me,
And I would quickly like to be a fisherman,
A hunter or a gardener.
 
And the merry whistling of the millstones,
And the roar of the waterwheel,
And the bustling rattle of the millworks,
Almost drive me out the door.
 
But when in a good hour
She approaches the lad, making conversation,
And, as an intelligent child of the house
Casts her eye over everything to see if it is right;
 
And knowledgeably praises one fellow,
That the other might realize
How he could do better,
If he wished to earn her thanks.
 
No one feels himself singled out,
And yet she never misses the mark;
Everyone must say that his feelings have been spared,
And yet she makes no bones about anything.
 
No one wishes she would leave,
Even though she stands there as a mistress,
And almost like the eye of God
Her image is always before us. --
 
Well, thus may the life of the mill
Be well worthy of a song,
And the mill wheels, stones and pounding
Join in as the accompaniment.
 
Everything goes in a beautiful dance
Up and down and in and out:
May God bless my trade
And the house of the good master!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2016 by Sharon Krebs, (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 Wilhelm Müller (1794 - 1827), "Das Mühlenleben", appears in Gedichte aus den hinterlassenen Papieren eines reisenden Waldhornisten 1, in Die schöne Müllerin, no. 8, first published 1821
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2016-09-14
Line count: 40
Word count: 267

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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

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