Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.
It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.
To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net
If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.
Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.
Reiten, reiten, reiten, durch den Tag, durch die Nacht, durch den Tag. Reiten, reiten, reiten. Und der Mut ist so müde geworden und die Sehnsucht so groß. Es gibt keine Berge mehr, kaum einen Baum. Nichts wagt aufzustehen. Fremde Hütten hocken durstig an versumpften Brunnen. Nirgends ein Turm. Und immer das gleiche Bild. Man hat zwei Augen zuviel. [Nur in der Nacht manchmal glaubt man den Weg zu kennen. Vielleicht kehren wir nächtens immer wieder das Stück zurück, das wir in der fremden Sonne mühsam gewonnen haben? Es kann sein. ]1 Die Sonne ist schwer, wie bei uns tief im Sommer. Aber wir haben im Sommer Abschied genommen. Die Kleider der Frauen leuchteten lang aus dem Grün. Und nun reiten wir lang. Es muß also Herbst sein. Wenigstens dort, wo traurige Frauen von uns wissen.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Rainer Maria Rilke, Werke. Kommentiere Ausgabe in vier Bänden, herausgegeben von Manfred Engel, Ulrich Fülleborn, Horst Nalewski, August Stahl, Band I Gedichte 1895 bis 1910, herausgegeben von Manfred Engel und Ulrich Fülleborn, Frankfurt am Main: Insel Verlag, 1996, page 141.
1 omitted by ReutterText Authorship:
- by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, written 1899, appears in Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, no. 1, first published 1906 [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 Paul von Klenau (1883 - 1946), "Reiten, reiten, reiten, durch den Tag" [ voices and orchestra ], from Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Kornetts Christoph Rilke, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ton de Leeuw (1926 - 1996), "Reiten, Reiten", 1948, copyright © 1948 [ high voice and piano ], from Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, no. 1, Amsterdam : Donemus [sung text not yet checked]
- by Frank Martin (1890 - 1974), "Reiten...", 1942 [ alto and chamber orchestra ], from Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Casimir von Pászthory (1886 - 1966), "Reiten, reiten, reiten", 1914, first performed 1914 [ reciter and piano ], from Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, no. 2, Leipzig: Fr. Kistner & C.F.W. Siegel, 1919 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Hermann Reutter (1900 - 1985), "Reiten, reiten, reiten", op. 31 no. 1, published 1947 [ medium voice and piano ], from Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, no. 1, Mainz: B. Schott's Söhne, London: Schott & Co. Ltd. [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Richard Sturzenegger (1905 - 1976), "Präludium" [ speaker and orchestra ], from Melodramas (Fragments), no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Viktor Ullmann (1898 - 1944), "Reiten, reiten, reiten", 1944 [ reciter and piano ], from Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, Erster Teil, no. 2, Mainz: Schott Music GmbH & Co., 1995 [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) , no title, appears in The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke, no. 1, copyright © ; composed by Lisa Bielawa.
- Also set in Italian (Italiano), a translation by Marco Zapparoli (b. 1960) , appears in L’Alfieri, copyright © ; composed by Hans Ludwig Hirsch.
- 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.]
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Vladimir Matveyevich Letuchy (1943 - 2015) , copyright © ; composed by Vladislav Mikhailovich Lebedev.
- 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) , "Riding", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Chevaucher, chevaucher, chevaucher, le jour", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: John Versmoren , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 135
Riding, Riding, Riding, through the day, through the night, through the day. Riding, riding, riding. And courage has grown so tired, and longing so great. There are no more mountains, hardly a tree. Nothing dares to stand up. Foreign huts squat thirstily at muddied wells. Nowhere a tower. And always the same picture. One finds that one has two eyes too many. Only at night does one sometimes believe one knows the way. Perhaps at night we always return to the stretch of road that we gained so painfully under the foreign sun? It may be. The sun is heavy, as it is during the depth of our summer. But it was summer when we took our leave. The dresses of the women shimmered for a long time among the green. And now we are riding along. So it must be Autumn. At least in the place where sad women know of us.
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, written 1899, appears in Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, no. 1, first published 1906
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 17
Word count: 153