Gypsies | A yearning glows in their night-shrouded glance

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by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Zigeuner

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Die Sehnsucht glüht in ihrem nächtigen Blick 
Nach jener Heimat, die sie niemals finden. 
So treibt sie ein unseliges Geschick, 
Das nur Melancholie mag ganz ergründen.

Die Wolken wandeln ihren Wegen vor, 
Ein Vogelzug mag manchmal sie geleiten, 
Bis er am Abend ihre Spur verlor, 
Und manchmal trägt der Wind ein Aveläuten

In ihres Lagers Sterneneinsamkeit, 
Daß sehnsuchtsvoller ihre Lieder schwellen 
Und schluchzen von ererbtem Fluch und Leid, 
Das keiner Hoffnung Sterne sanft erhellen.

Text Authorship:

by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914), "Zigeuner", written 1909, appears in Gedichte aus dem Nachlass [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 Rudi Spring (b. 1962), "Zigeuner", op. 89a no. 1 (2014) [tenor and piano], from Vier Lieder nach Gedichten von Georg Trakl, no. 1. [ sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Bertram Kottmann) , "Gypsies", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Tziganes", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2014-09-16
Line count: 12
Word count: 74

Gypsies

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

A yearning glows in their night-shrouded glance
towards that homeland they will never find. 
So they are driven by a cruel fate, 
that only gloom may fully fathom out.

The clouds show them their ways, 
migrating birds may sometimes guide them, 
until they lose their track at night;
sometimes the wind carries the sound of a Hail Mary bell

to their camp in stellar solitude,
so that their songs will swell with greater yearning 
and sob from an inbred curse and hardship, 
that no stars of hope will ever softly light.

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), "Zigeuner", written 1909, appears in Gedichte aus dem Nachlass
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2018-11-28
Line count: 12
Word count: 91