In the evening bloody linens

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by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Abends schweben blutige Linnen

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG FRE ITA

Abends schweben blutige Linnen,
Wolken über stummen Wäldern,
Die gehüllt in schwarze Linnen.
Spatzen lärmen auf den Feldern.

Und sie liegt ganz weiß im Dunkel.
Unterm Dach verhaucht ein Girren.
Wie ein Aas in Busch und Dunkel
Fliegen ihren Mund umschwirren.

Traumhaft klingt im braunen Weiler
Nach ein Klang von Tanz und Geigen,
Schwebt ihr Antlitz durch den Weiler,
Weht ihr Haar in kahlen Zweigen.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914), no title, appears in Gedichte 1909 -1913 , in Die junge Magd, no. 6 [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 Paul Hindemith (1895 - 1963), "Abends schweben blutige Linnen", op. 23 no. 2f (1922) [alto, flute, clarinet, string quartet], from Die junge Magd, no. 6. [ sung text verified 1 time]

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

ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , title 1: "A sera come insanguinati panni", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Bertram Kottmann

This text was added to the website: 2007-02-01
Line count: 12
Word count: 65

In the evening bloody linens

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

In the evening bloody linens -
clouds - that float  o’er silent forests, 
that are wrapped in blackish linens. 
Sparrows roister in the meadows.
 
And she lies dead-white in darkness. 
Under rooftops dies a cooing. 
As if there’s carrion in bush and darkness, 
flies around her mouth are buzzing. 
 
Dreamily the brownish hamlet 
rings with dance and fiddle echoes, 
floats her visage through the hamlet,
blows her hair in leafless branches.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translation of title "Abends schweben blutige Linnen" = "In the evening bloody linens"

Text Authorship:

Singable 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
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914), no title, appears in Gedichte 1909 -1913 , in Die junge Magd, no. 6
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2016-12-18
Line count: 12
Word count: 69