Birds | How delightful and exhilarating

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by Friedrich von Schlegel (1772 - 1829)

Translation © by David Gordon

Die Vögel

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT DUT ENG FRE ITA

Wie lieblich und fröhlich,
Zu schweben, zu singen,
[Von]¹ glänzender Höhe
Zur Erde zu blicken!

Die Menschen sind thöricht,
Sie können nicht [zwitschern]².
Sie jammern in Nöthen,
Wir flattern gen Himmel.

Der Jäger will tödten,
Dem Früchte wir pickten;
Wir müssen ihn höhnen,
Und Beute gewinnen.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• F. Schubert

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Musen-Almanach für das Jahr 1802. Herausgegeben von A. W. Schlegel und L. Tieck. Tübingen, in der Cotta'schen Buchhandlung, 1802, page 135; and with Friedrich Schlegel's sämmtliche Werke. Erster Band. Gedichte. Berlin, bei Julius Eduard Hitzig, 1809, page 14.

¹ Schubert: "In"
² Schlegel (1809 and later editions), and Schubert: "fliegen"

Text Authorship:

by Friedrich von Schlegel (1772 - 1829), "Die Vögel", appears in Abendröte, in Erster Teil, no. 3, first published 1802 [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 Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Die Vögel", op. posth. 172 (Sechs Lieder) no. 6, D 691 (1820?), published 1865 [ voice and piano ], C. A. Spina, VN 16784, Wien [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Els ocells", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "De vogels", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (David Gordon) , "Birds", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Les oiseaux", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Uccelli", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: David Gordon , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 46

Birds

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

How delightful and exhilarating
To soar, to sing,
To look down on the earth
From the shining heights!

Men are foolish:
They cannot fly.
They lament in their troubles;
We fly up to the heavens.

The huntsman wants to kill us,
Whose fruit we pecked,
But we should mock him
And snatch our spoils.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by David Gordon, (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 Friedrich von Schlegel (1772 - 1829), "Die Vögel", appears in Abendröte, in Erster Teil, no. 3, first published 1802
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 54