To the silenced | O, the madness of the city, where at nightfall

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by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

An die Verstummten

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG FRE

O, der Wahnsinn der großen Stadt, da am Abend
An schwarzer Mauer verkrüppelte Bäume starren,
Aus silberner Maske der Geist des Bösen schaut;
Licht mit magnetischer Geißel die steinerne Nacht verdrängt.
O, das versunkene Läuten der Abendglocken.

Hure, die in eisigen Schauern ein totes Kindlein gebärt.
Rasend peitscht Gottes Zorn die Stirne des Besessenen,
Purpurne Seuche, Hunger, der grüne Augen zerbricht.
O, das gräßliche Lachen des Golds.

Aber stille blutet in dunkler Höhle stummere Menschheit,
Fügt aus harten Metallen das erlösende Haupt.

Text Authorship:

by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914), "An die Verstummten" [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 Ernst Křenek (1900 - 1991), "An die Verstummten", WoO. 126 (1931) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Bertram Kottmann) , "To the silenced", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "À ceux qui se sont tus", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2014-07-22
Line count: 11
Word count: 82

To the silenced

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

O, the madness of the city, where at nightfall
scrubby trees loom up from black walls;
out of a silver mask the Evil spirit peers;
light casts out the night of stone with its magnetic scourge.
O, the musing ringing of the evening bells.

The whore, bearing a stillborn babe in freezing rain.
Ragingly God’s wrath whips the obsessed one’s brow,
purple plague and hunger, that makes green eyes grow dim:
O, the horrible laughter of gold.

But a more silenced mankind calmly bleeds in a dark cave,
composing of hard metals the salvific head.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2018 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), "An die Verstummten"
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2018-11-28
Line count: 11
Word count: 95