Zierlich ist des Vogels Tritt im Schnee,
Wenn er wandelt [auf]1 des Berges Höh':
[Zierlicher schreibt]2 Liebchens liebe Hand,
Schreibt ein Brieflein mir in ferne Land'.

In die Lüfte hoch [ein]3 Reiher steigt,
Dahin weder Pfeil noch Kugel [fleugt]4:
[Tausendmal]5 so hoch und so geschwind
Die Gedanken treuer Liebe sind.

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View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Gedichte von Eduard Mörike, Zweite, vermehrte Auflage, Stuttgart und Tübingen, J. G. Cotta'scher Verlag, 1848, page 19.

¹ Seifert: "von"
² Seifert: "Zierlich schreibet"
³ Killmayer: "der"
⁴ Seifert: "reicht"
⁵ Seifert: "Doch tausendmal"

Text Authorship:

• by Eduard Mörike (1804 - 1875), "Jägerlied" [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 Johann Baptiste André (1823 - 1882), "Jägerlied", op. 47 (Acht zweistimmige Lieder mit Begleitung des Pianoforte) no. 5, published 1874 [ duet for 2 mezzo-sopranos (or mezzo-soprano and bass) with piano ], Offenbach, André [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Die Gedanken treuer Liebe", 2009 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Ignaz Brüll (1846 - 1907), "Lied", op. 56 (Sieben Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 7, published 1889 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Siegel [sung text not yet checked]
• by Hugo Distler (1908 - 1942), "Jägerlied", op. 19 (Mörike-Chorliederbuch), Heft 2 no. 3 (1939) [ chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Hugo Distler (1908 - 1942), "Jägerlied", op. 19 (Mörike-Chorliederbuch), Heft 3 no. 4 (1939) [ chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Kurt Erickson , "Jägerlied", first performed 2014 [ bass and piano ], from Jägermeisterlieder: A Song Set for Manly Men , no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann (1805 - 1900), "Jägerlied", op. 35 (Sechs deutsche Gesänge) no. 1, published 1842, Leipzig, Kistner [sung text not yet checked]
• by Willy Hess (1906 - 1997), "Jägerlied", op. 42 (Sieben Lieder = Seven songs) no. 4, published 1974 [ voice and piano ], Zürich : Amadeus Verlag, also set in English [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Karl Ludwig Friedrich Hetsch (1806 - 1872), "Jägerlied", op. 11 (Lieder und Gesänge von Ed. Mörike für Mezzo-Sopran) no. 1, published 1843 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], Stuttgart, Zum Haydn [sung text not yet checked]
• by Paul Hofmann , "Jägerlied", published 1899 [ voice and piano ], from Fünf Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung, no. 2, Berlin, Ries & Erler [sung text not yet checked]
• by Franz von Holstein (1826 - 1878), "Jägerlied", op. 16 (Fünf Lieder) no. 2, published 1865 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Robert Kahn (1865 - 1951), "Jägerlied", op. 12 (Fünf Gesänge) no. 1 (1890), published 1891 [ high voice and piano ], Leipzig, Leuckart [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ernst Friedrich Kauffmann (1803 - 1856), "Jägerlied", 1839 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Wilhelm Killmayer (1927 - 2017), "Jägerlied", 2003/4, published 2014, first performed 2004 [ tenor and piano ], from Mörike-Lieder für Tenor und Klavier, no. 5, Mainz, London, Berlin, Madrid, New York, Paris, Prague, Tokyo, Toronto: Schott Music [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Peter Jona Korn (b. 1922), "Jägerlied", op. 24 no. 3 (1954), published 1964 [ medium voice and piano ], from Der Pfarrer von Cleversulzbach, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Karl Julius Marx (1897 - 1985), "Jägerlied", op. 42 no. 3 (1941) [sung text not yet checked]
• by Eduard Rommel , "Zierlich ist des Vogels Tritt im Schnee", op. 16 (Zwei Lieder im Volkston für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung) no. 1, published 1890 [ voice and piano ], Frankfurt a/M., Steyl & Thomas [sung text not yet checked]
• by Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856), "Jägerlied", op. 59, Heft 1 no. 3 (1846), published 1848 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Vier Gesänge für gemischten Chor, no. 3, Leipzig, Whistling [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Richard Seifert (b. 1821), "Jägerlied" [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Hugo von Senger (1835 - 1892), "Jägerliedchen", op. 7 (Fünfunddreißig Lieder und Gesänge), Heft 2 no. 7, published 1868 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Wolfgang Ulrich (1924 - 1995), "Jägerlied", 1979 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Felix Paul Weingartner (1863 - 1942), "Jägerlied", op. 41 no. 5, published 1906, from Frühlings- und Liebeslieder, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Justus Hermann Wetzel (1879 - 1973), "Jägerlied" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Hugo Wolf (1860 - 1903), "Jägerlied", from Mörike-Lieder, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in English, a translation by Maureen Oberli-Turner ; composed by Willy Hess.
  • Go to the text.
    

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Emily Ezust) , no title, copyright ©
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Stéphane Goldet) (Pierre de Rosamel) , copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor] , Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 55

Dainty are birds’ footprints in the snow,
when they wander up to mountain peaks;
still daintier is the writing of my love,
in letters wich I read so far from home.

A heron rises high up in the sky,
where neither shots nor arrows can attain.
A thousand times more lofty and more swift,
are the thoughts of love so true and deep.