This Life, which seems so fair, Is like a bubble blown up in the air By sporting children's breath, Who chase it everywhere And strive who can most motion it bequeath. And though it sometimes seem of its own might Like to an eye of gold to be fixed there, And firm to hover in that empty height, That only is because it is so light. But in that pomp it doth not long appear; For when 'tis most admired, in a thought, Because it erst was nought, it turns to nought.
Authorship:
- by William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585 - 1649) [author's text not yet checked 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 Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956), "This life, which seems so fair", op. 5 no. 3, published 1926, first performed 1936 [ unaccompanied chorus ], from Three Short Elegies, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ernst Křenek (1900 - 1991), "This life, which seems so fair", op. 87 no. 1 (1939) [ chorus a cappella ], from Two choruses on Jacobean poems für Chor a cappella, no. 1, Wien und Leipzig, Universal Edition [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Richard Flatter) , "Die Seifenblase", appears in Die Fähre, Englische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrhunderten, first published 1936
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-01-07
Line count: 12
Word count: 92
Das Leben, das sich so schillrig zeigt, Gleicht einer Seifenblase. Jedes Kind will, daß die seine steigt, Sich nicht so bald wieder abwärts neigt, Und hebt voll Eifers die Nase. Doch scheint sie wahrhaftig sich zu erheben – So wie der Vogel, der im Winde streicht, Aus eigner Kraft bemüht scheint, aufzuschweben – Sie treibt in Wind, selbst wie ein Hauch so leicht. Die farbige Pracht ist kurz, kurz unser Leben: Grad wenn´s am schönsten gleißt im Glanz des Lichts, Wie´s herkam aus dem Nichts, kehrt´s heim ins Nichts.
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Confirmed with Die Fähre, Englische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrhunderten Übersetzt von Richard Flatter, Walter Krieg Verlag, Wien-Bad Bocklet-Zürich, 1954, 2nd edition (1st edition 1936), page 122.
Authorship:
- by Richard Flatter (1891 - 1960), "Die Seifenblase", appears in Die Fähre, Englische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrhunderten, first published 1936 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585 - 1649)
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this page: Volkmar Henschel
This text was added to the website: 2021-02-25
Line count: 12
Word count: 89