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Errichtet keinen Denkstein. Laßt die Rose nur jedes Jahr zu seinen Gunsten blühn. Denn Orpheus ists. Seine Metamorphose in dem und dem. Wir sollen uns nicht mühn um andre Namen. Ein für alle Male ists Orpheus, wenn es singt. Er kommt und geht. Ists nicht schon viel, wenn er die Rosenschale um ein Paar Tage manchmal übersteht? O wie er schwinden muß, daß ihrs begrifft! Und wenn ihm selbst auch bangte, daß er schwände. Indem sein Wort das Hiersein übertrifft, ist er schon dort, wohin ihrs nicht begleitet. Der Leier Gitter [zwingt]1 ihm nicht die Hände. Und er gehorcht, indem er überschreitet.
H. Birtwistle sets line 13
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Birtwistle: "zwängt"
Text Authorship:
- by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, appears in Die Sonette an Orpheus 1, no. 5 [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 Harrison Birtwistle, Sir (1934 - 2022), "Elegy 12, Sonnet I, 5", 2003-04, line 13 [ oboe, harp and countertenor ], from Orpheus elegies, no. 16, Boosey & Hawkes [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Staffan Björklund (b. 1944), "Errichtet keinen Denkstein" [ voice and string quartet or piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Terje Bjørklund (b. 1945), "Errichtet keinen Denkstein. Laßt die Rose", 1987, first performed 1987 [ soprano, tenor, piano ], from Orfeus-elegier, no. 5, NB noter [sung text not yet checked]
- by Terje Bjørklund (b. 1945), "Errichtet keinen Denkstein", 1987 [ soprano, piano ], NB noter [sung text not yet checked]
- by Stanley Grill (b. 1953), "Errichtet keinen Denkstein", copyright © 2012 [ tenor and piano ], from Sonnets to Orpheus, no. 5, confirmed with an online score [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Christian Holmqvist (b. 1974), "Errichtet keinen Denkstein", 2007, first performed 2013 [ voice and piano ], from Drei Sonette an Orpheus, no. 2, Music Finland [sung text not yet checked]
- by Roman Palester (1907 - 1989), "Errichtet keinen Denkstein", 1952 [ soprano and orchestra ], from Drei Sonetten Orpheus : für Sopran und orchester , no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928 - 2016), "Errichtet keinen Denkstein", 1956 [ voice and piano or orchestra ], from Fünf Sonette an Orpheus, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Margaret Dows Herter Norton (1894 - 1985) , appears in Translations from the Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, copyright © ; composed by George Perle.
- Also set in English, a translation by Darrel Hale , title 1: "Sonnet V", title 2: "Rilke Sonnets to Orpheus ‐ Part One, ", copyright © 2018 ; composed by Jenni Brandon.
- Also set in English, a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Robert Cogan.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Knut W. Barde) , "Sonnet to Orpheus", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 103
Don't erect a memorial. Just let the roses bloom for his benefit every year. It's Orpheus, after all. He metamorphoses into this and this. No worry here to find other names-once and for all it's Orpheus when there's singing. He leaves and stays. Isn't it already great, after all, when he survives the rosebloom by some days? Oh, that he must disappear for you to see it clear! Even when he too is afraid that he might vanish. As his word surpasses what's merely present here, he already dwells where you do not accompany it. The lyre's grate does not his hands admonish. And his obedience is by his excess constituted.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Knut W. Barde, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, appears in Die Sonette an Orpheus 1, no. 5
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 111