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Wachtfeuer. Man sitzt rundumher und wartet. Wartet, daß einer singt. Aber man ist so müd. Das rote Licht ist schwer. Es liegt auf den staubigen Schuhn. Es kriecht bis an die Kniee, es schaut in die gefalteten Hände hinein. Es hat keine Flügel. Die Gesichter sind dunkel. Dennoch leuchten eine Weile die Augen des kleinen Franzosen mit eigenem Licht. Er hat eine kleine Rose geküßt, und nun darf sie weiterwelken an seiner Brust. Der von Langenau hat es gesehen, weil er nicht schlafen kann. Er denkt: Ich habe keine Rose, keine. Dann singt er. Und das ist ein altes trauriges Lied, das zu Hause die Mädchen auf den Feldern singen, im Herbst, wenn die Ernten zu Ende gehen.
About the headline (FAQ)
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 143.
Text Authorship:
- by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, written 1899, appears in Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, no. 6, first published 1906 [author's text checked 2 times 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), "Wachtfeuer", 1918/1919, from Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Kornetts Christoph Rilke, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ton de Leeuw (1926 - 1996), "Wachtfeuer", 1948, copyright © 1948 [ high voice and piano ], from Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, no. 3, Amsterdam : Donemus [sung text not yet checked]
- by Frank Martin (1890 - 1974), "Wachtfeuer", 1942 [ alto and chamber orchestra ], from Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Onutė Narbutaitė (b. 1956), "Gesang", 1997, first performed 1998 [ alto, tenor, bass, oboe and organ ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Casimir von Pászthory (1886 - 1966), "Wachtfeuer. Man sitzt rundumher und wartet", 1914, first performed 1914 [ reciter and piano ], from Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, no. 7, Leipzig: Fr. Kistner & C.F.W. Siegel, 1919 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Knut W. Barde) , no title, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , 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: 20
Word count: 118
Watch-fire. One sits around it and waits. Waits for someone to sing. But one is so tired. The red light is heavy. It rests on dusty shoes. It crawls up to the knees, it looks into the folded hands. It has no wings. The faces are dark. Yet for a while the eyes of the little Frenchman glow with their own light. He has kissed a small rose, and now it may continue to wilt on his breast. Von Langenau saw it because he could not sleep. He thinks: I have no rose, none. Then he sings. And it as an old, sad, song, that the girls sing at home in the fields, when the harvests near their end in the fall.
About the headline (FAQ)
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. 6, first published 1906
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 122