LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,103)
  • Text Authors (19,447)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

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

The soldier
Language: English 
Then, soldier! Come fill high the wine,
For we reck not of tomorrow;
Be ours today and we resign
All the rest to the fools of sorrow.
Gay be the hour  'til we beat to arms
Then comrade Death or Glory;
'Tis Victory in all her charms,
Or 'tis Fame in the world's bright story.

'Tis you, 'tis I that may meet the ball;
And me it better pleases
In battle, brave, with the brave to fall,
Than to die of dull diseases;
Driveller to be in my fireside chair
With saws and tales unheeded;
A tottering thing of aches and care
No longer lov'd nor needed.

But thou, O dark is thy flowing hair,
Andthine eye with fire is streaming,
And o'er thy cheek, thy looks, thine air,
Sits health in triumph beaming.
Thou, brother soldier, fill the wine,
Fill high to love and beauty;
Love, friendship, honour, all are thine,
Thy country and thy duty.

Text Authorship:

  • by William Smyth (1765 - 1849) [author's text not yet checked 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 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), "The soldier", WoO 157 no. 2 (1818), from 12 songs of various nationalities, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • GER German (Deutsch) (Georg Pertz) , "Der Krieger"


Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2005-12-08
Line count: 24
Word count: 157

Der Krieger
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the English 
Frisch, Krieger! Schenk den Becher ein,
Was schiert, Kam'rad, uns Morgen?
Das Heut' genieß bei Sang und Wein,
Und Narren laßt die Sorgen.
Seid froh noch bis die Trommel dröhnt
Zum Siegen oder Sterben,
Sei's Ruhm, von jedem Reiz verschönt,
Sei's ew'gen Preis zu erben.

Ob mir, ob dir die Kugel gilt,
Was tut's: Ich sterbe lieber
Den Heldentod in der Feldschlacht wild
Als daheim am schleichenden Fieber.
O über die Träumer am Ofen daheim,
Von Sorgen düster umnachtet,
Bei Kindermärchen und Ammenreim,
Verlacht, geflohn, verachtet.

Doch du - o schwarz ist dein lockig Haar,
Und dein Aug' wie Kohlen glühend
Und auf Stirn' dir thronet und Wangenpaar
Gesundheit, die Fürstin, blühend.
Kam'rad! So schenk das Glas zum Rand,
Laß Lieb' und Schönheit leben,
Lieb', Freundschaft, Ehre, Vaterland
Und Pflicht und mannhaft Streben.

Text Authorship:

  • by Georg Pertz (1830 - 1870), "Der Krieger" [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in English by William Smyth (1765 - 1849)
    • Go to the text page.

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 page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2005-12-08
Line count: 24
Word count: 132

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris