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Olim lacus colueram olim pulcher extiteram, dum cignus ego fueram. Miser, miser! modo niger et ustus fortiter! [Girat, regirat furcifer, propinat me nunc dapifer, me rogus urit fortiter!]1 Miser, miser! modo niger et ustus fortiter! Mallem in acquis vivere nudo semper sub aere, quam in hoc mergi pipere: Miser, miser! modo niger et ustus fortiter! Eram nive candidior, quavis ave formosior, modo sum corvo nigrior: Miser, miser! modo niger et ustus fortiter! Nunc in scutella iaceo, et volitare nequeo, dentes frendentes video. Miser, miser! modo niger et ustus fortiter!
C. Orff sets stanzas 1-4, 9-10
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotesConfirmed with Carmina Burana: lateinische und deutsche Lieder und Gedichte. Einer Handschrift des XIII. Jahrhunderts Aus Benediktbeuern auf der K. Bibliothek zu München herausgegeben von J[ohann] A[ndreas] Schmeller, dritte unveränderte Auflage, Breslau: Wilhelm Koebner, 1894. page 173
1 Orff:Girat, regirat garcifer; me rogus urit fortiter; propinat me nunc dapifer.
Text Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, no title, appears in Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae, first published c1300 [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 Carl Orff (1895 - 1982), "Olim lacus colueram", 1935-6, stanzas 1-4,9-10 [ tenor and men's chorus ], from Carmina Burana, no. 12 [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Ludwig Laistner (1845 - 1896) , "Ein Schwanenlied", appears in Golias. Studentenlieder des Mittelalters, aus dem lateinischen von Ludwig Laistner, Stuttgart: W. Spemann, first published 1879 ; composed by Max Zenger.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Saúl Botero Restrepo) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani , Melanie Trumbull
This text was added to the website: 2011-04-24
Line count: 30
Word count: 90
Once I lived on the lakes, once I was beautiful, when I was a swan. Poor me, poor me! Now black and completely burnt! [The scoundrel turns and turns me again; now the waiter serves me; the fire burns me completely!]1 Poor me, poor me! Now black and completely burnt! I would rather live in the water always beneath the open sky, than to be plunged in this pepper: Poor me, poor me! Now black and completely burnt! I was whiter than sno, lovelier than any other bird, but now I am blacker than a crow: Poor me, poor me! Now black and completely burnt! Now I lie on a platter, and cannot fly, I see teeth champing. Poor me, poor me! Now black and completely burnt!
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotesTranslations of titles:
"Olim lacus colueram" = "Once I lived on the lakes"
The servant turns and turns me again; the fire burns me intensely; now the waiter serves me.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Latin to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (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 Latin by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , no title, appears in Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae, first published c1300
This text was added to the website: 2026-09-24
Line count: 30
Word count: 128