’ne Tür ging auf zur Straße hin

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

A door just opened on a street—

Language: English

Our translations: GER

A door just opened on a street—
  I, lost, was passing by—
An instant's width of warmth disclosed,
  And wealth, and company.

The door as sudden shut, and I,
  I, lost, was passing by,—
Lost doubly, but by contrast most,
  Enlightening misery.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Poems by Emily Dickinson. Third Series, ed by Mabel Loomis Todd, Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1896.

Note: later editions had the following changes:
Stanza 2, line 1, word 4: "instant" instead of "sudden"
Stanza 2, line 4, word 1: "Informing" instead of "Enlightening"

Text Authorship:

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), "Contrast", written 1864, appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, in 1. Life, no. 28 [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 Anna Clyne (b. 1980), "As sudden shut", first performed 2013 [ 3 female voices, instrumental ensemble ], Boosey & Hawkes [sung text checked 1 time]

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

GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Bertram Kottmann

This text was added to the website: 2020-04-27
Line count: 8
Word count: 42

’ne Tür ging auf zur Straße hin

Language: German (Deutsch) after the English

’ne Tür ging auf zur Straße hin -
ich ging vorbei zur Nacht -
ganz kurz erschloss sie Wärme mir,
Geselligkeit und Pracht.

Doch augenblicklich fiel sie zu,
ließ draußen mich, allein,
auf dass mir doppelt ward gewahr
mein Elend, meine Pein.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2020 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 English by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), "Contrast", written 1864, appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, in 1. Life, no. 28
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2020-04-27
Line count: 8
Word count: 40