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So wie das letzte Grün in Farbentiegeln sind diese Blätter, trocken, stumpf und rauh, hinter den Blütendolden, die ein Blau nicht auf sich tragen, nur von ferne spiegeln. Sie spiegeln es verweint und ungenau, als wollten sie es wiederum verlieren, und wie in alten blauen Briefpapieren ist Gelb in ihnen, Violett und Grau; verwaschenes wie an einer Kinderschürze, Nichtmehrgetragenes, dem nichts mehr geschieht: wie fühlt man eines kleinen Lebens Kürze. Doch plötzlich scheint das Blau sich zu verneuen in einer von den Dolden, und man sieht ein rührend Blaues sich vor Grünem freuen.
Text Authorship:
- by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), written 1906, appears in Neue Gedichte [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 Robert Haas (1886 - 1960), "Blaue Hortensie", c1919-c1944 [ voice and piano ], from 25 Lieder nach Gedichten von Rainer Maria Rilke, no. 10 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Felix Heym , "Blaue Hortensie", from Blumenlieder, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Rolf Martinsson (b. 1956), "Blaue Hortensie", first performed 2015 [ voice and orchestra ], from Ich denke Dein, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Xaver Paul Thoma (b. 1953), "Blaue Hortensie", op. 154a (Sieben Gesänge) no. 6 (2007), published c2008 [ baritone and piano ], Asperg : IKURO [sung text not yet checked]
- by Steffen Wolf (b. 1971), "Blaue Hortensie", 2020 [ mixed chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "Blue hydrangea", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2017-08-24
Line count: 14
Word count: 93
So like the last bit of green paint in a pestle are these leaves, dried up, colorless and rough, behind the cluster of blossoms, whose hue merely seems to be blue, and is just a distant reflection. Their reflection is tear-stained and imprecise, as though they wanted to shed it gradually, like the way old blue stationery develops streaks of yellow, violet, and gray; faded like an old child’s apron, castoffs, done with their useful life: the way one feels the brevity of a short life. Then suddenly, the blue seems to come back to life in one of the clusters, and one can see a poignant blue rejoicing over the green.
Translator's notes: This is a 1906 sonnet from Rilke’s German collection New Poems, but Rilke almost used this poem’s title as the title for the whole collection; during the same period (1906-07), Rilke was also translating sonnets by Michelangelo and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. In the original German, each stanza is closed, and British translator Edward Snow has described the first three stanzas as three “closed rooms” of exposition, released (or brightened) by the final stanza. This poem deals with lyrical self-reflection and renewal (of the flower, the poem, and the observer). Rilke had spent time with the sculptor Auguste Rodin at his villa (and gardens) while writing a 1903 book about the artist: he noticed Rodin’s intense focus and the way he priviledged his artistic life over his personal life. After serving as Rodin’s private secretary in 1905-06, Rilke wrote to a friend of a similar desire for focus: “I begin to see anew: already flowers mean so infinitely much to me… and sometimes I perceive even people so… and I see everything more quietly and with greater justice."
Line 1-3 - "Blütendolden", translated here as "cluster of blossoms" : specifically, the umbel, or multiple stems of compound flowers springing from a single midpoint on a stem
Line 3-1 - "Kinderschürze", translated here as "child's apron" : also, "pinafore"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2017 by Laura Prichard, (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.
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Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), written 1906, appears in Neue Gedichte
This text was added to the website: 2017-08-24
Line count: 14
Word count: 112