by William Smyth (1765 - 1849)
Translation by Georg Pertz (1830 - 1870)

Farewell, farewell, thou noisy town
Language: English 
Our translations:  ITA
Farewell, farewell, thou noisy town,
Thou scene of restless glare;
Thine hours no real pleasures crown,
No peace, no love is there.
How dull thy splendid ev'nings close!
How sad thy joys to me!
Thy hollow smiles, thy rival shows,
And all thy misery.

But welcome to my longing eyes,
Dear objects ever new,
My rural cot, you varying skies,
Streams, woods, amd mountains blue!
With these my humble spirits finds
Health, liberty, and rest,
The silent joys of simple minds,
And leisure to be blest.

Text Authorship:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

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

  • GER German (Deutsch) (Georg Pertz)
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Addio, addio, città rumorosa", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2006-01-11
Line count: 16
Word count: 86

Fahrwohl, fahrwohl, du lange Stadt
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the English 
Fahrwohl, fahrwohl, du lange Stadt, 
du Welt voll eitlem Glanz;
dein Schmuck ist Tand, dein Schimmer matt, 
welk deiner Liebe Kranz.
Wie öd' ist deiner Feste Schluß
Wie herb dein Freudenwein!
Dein hohler Pomp, dein Scheingenuß 
bringt Elend nur und Pein.

Wie anders hier - da strahlt die Welt
In ewig holder Schau,
Mein ländlich Haus, das Himmelszelt,
Strom, Wald und Berge blau.
Hier findet die bescheid'ne Brust
Ruh', Freiheit, Heiterkeit,
Einfacher Seelen stille Lust,
Und sel'ge Mussezeit.

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Text Authorship:

Based on:

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 text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2005-05-15
Line count: 16
Word count: 77