LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,119)
  • Text Authors (19,527)
  • 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

×

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Nikolaus Lenau (1802 - 1850)
Translation © by Linda Godry

Der leidige Frieden
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  CAT DUT ENG FRE ITA LIT
Der leidige Frieden
Hat lange gewährt,
Wir warten geschieden,
Mein gutes Schwert!

Derweil ich gekostet
Im Keller den Wein,
Hingst du verrostet
An der Wand allein.

Von Sorte zu Sorte
Probiert' ich den Wein,
Indessen dorrte
Das Blut dir ein.

Ist endlich entglommen
Der heiße Streit,
Mein Schwert, und gekommen
Ist deine Zeit.

Ich [gab]1 deiner Klingen
Den blanken Schliff,
Ich lasse dich singen
Den Todespfiff.

Im Pulvernebel
Die Arbeit rauscht,
Wir haben, o Säbel,
Die Freuden getauscht.

Im brausenden Moste,
Mein durstiges Erz,
Betrinke dich, koste
Von Herz zu Herz.

Derweil du gekostet
Das rote Blut,
Ist mir eingerostet
Der Hals vor Glut.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   R. Schumann 

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Schumann: "geb'"

Text Authorship:

  • by Nikolaus Lenau (1802 - 1850), no title, appears in Gedichte, in 4. Viertes Buch, in Vermischte Gedichte, in Husarenlieder, no. 2 [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 Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856), "Der leidige Frieden", op. 117 no. 2 (1851), published 1852, from Vier Husarenlieder von Nikolaus Lenau, no. 2, Leipzig, Senff [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "La pau desplaent", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "De vreeslijke vrede", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Linda Godry) , "The wretched peace", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "La paix désolante", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Amelia Maria Imbarrato) , "La trista pace", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , "Bjaurioji taika", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 105

The wretched peace
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
The wretched peace
Is taking too long,
We went our separate ways,
my worthy sword!

While I relished
The wine in the vaults,
You were getting rusty
Suspended from the wall all alone.

From this and that chateau
I sampled the wine,
While your blood
Went dry.

Finally broke out
The hot fight,
My sword, and now
Your time has come.

I sharpen your blade
To a shine,
I let you sing
The whistle of death.

In the gun smoke
We are fast workers,
We, oh my sabre
We each had our own.

In the foaming must,
My thirsty steel,
Drink your fill, sample
From heart to heart;

While you sample
The red blood,
My throat went dry
in the heat.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2006 by Linda Godry, (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 Nikolaus Lenau (1802 - 1850), no title, appears in Gedichte, in 4. Viertes Buch, in Vermischte Gedichte, in Husarenlieder, no. 2
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2006-11-07
Line count: 32
Word count: 121

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