Song of the fool | I sang of red roses half the night

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by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Narrenlied

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Von roten Rosen sang ich die halbe Nacht:
da waren am Strauch sie in Morgenkühle erfroren.
              O weh!
     Rote Rosen . . am Strauch erfroren!

An rote Lippen hab ich inbrünstig gedacht:
da haben sie sich an einen Andern verloren,
              O weh!
     Rote Lippen . . an Andern verloren!

Da hab' ich am Ende alles grimmig verlacht:
nun verlacht mich die Welt und nennt mich den Toren.
              Juchhe!
Rote Lippen und Rosen -- lachende Toren!

Confirmed with Albert Sergel, Jenseits der Straße. Gedichte und Stimmungen, Rostock: C.J.E. Volckmann (Volckmann & Wette), 1905, page 6.

Text Authorship:

by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), "Narrenlied", appears in Jenseits der Strasse: Gedichte und Stimmungen, in Hinter Dorn und Heckenrosen [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 Christian Sinding (1856 - 1941), "Narrenlied", op. 77 (Sieben Gedichte) no. 1, published 1906 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, C. F. Peters [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Song of the fool", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2011-04-15
Line count: 12
Word count: 74

Song of the fool

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

I sang of red roses half the night:
then in the morning’s cold, they were frozen upon the bush.
              Oh woe!
     Red roses . . frozen upon the bush!

I thought ardently about red lips:
then they gave themselves to another [man],
              Oh woe!
     Red lips . . lost to another!

In the end I laughed grimly at everything:
now the world laughs at me and calls me a fool.
              Hurray!
     Red lips and roses -- laughing fools!

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2023 by Sharon Krebs, (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 Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), "Narrenlied", appears in Jenseits der Strasse: Gedichte und Stimmungen, in Hinter Dorn und Heckenrosen
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2023-11-08
Line count: 12
Word count: 77