Alexis
 [Klag', o]1 meine Flöte! klage
 Die entschwundnen schönen Tage,
 Und des Frühlings schnelle Flucht,
 Hier auf den verwelkten Fluren,
 Wo mein Geist umsonst die Spuren
 [Süß gewohnter]2 Freuden sucht!
 
 [Klag', o]1 meine Flöte! klage!
 Einsam rufest du dem Tage,
 Der dem Schmerz zu spät erwacht.
 Einsam schallen meine Lieder,
 Nur das Echo hallt sie wieder
 Durch die Schatten stiller Nacht.
 
 [Klag', o]1 meine Flöte! klage
 Die entflohnen schönen Tage,
 Wo ein Herz, das mir nur schlug,
 Deinen sanften Liedern lauschte,
 Zürnend, wenn ein Zephyr rauschte,
 Und den kleinsten Laut vertrug.
 
 [Klag', o]1 meine Flöte! klage!
 Nimmer kehren diese Tage!
 Ungerührt hört Delia
 Meiner Lieder banges Sehnen,
 Sie, die ich bey deinen Tönen
 Oft in Lust verloren sah!
 
 [Klag', o]1 meine Flöte! klage!
 Kürzt den Faden meiner Tage
 Bald der strengen Parze Stahl;
 [Klage dann]3 auf Lethe's Matten
 Irgend einem guten Schatten
 Meine Lieb' und meine Qual!

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Confirmed with Idyllen. von Carolina Pichler, gebornen von Greiner. Wien Im Verlage bey Anton Pichler. 1803, pages 28-29; and with Sämmtliche Werke von Caroline Pichler, gebornen von Greiner. Zwölfter Theil. Wien, 1813. Gedruckt und im Verlage bey Anton Strauß, pages 34-35.

¹ Schubert: "Klage,"
² Pichler (1813 and later editions), and Schubert (Alte Gesamtausgabe): "Süßgewohnter"
³ Pichler (1813 and later editions), and Schubert (Alte Gesamtausgabe): "O dann sing'"

Text Authorship:

• by Caroline Pichler (1769 - 1843), no title, appears in Idyllen, in 3. Der Sänger am Felsen, first published 1803 [author's text checked 3 times 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 Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Der Sänger am Felsen", D 482 (1816), published 1895 [ voice, piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "El cantaire al rocam", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Richard Morris , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 31
Word count: 146

Alexis
 [Lament, oh]1 my flute, lament
 The lovely, vanished days,
 And the rapid flight of springtime,
 Here upon the withered meadows,
 Where my spirit seeks in vain
 The traces of sweetly familiar joys!
 
 [Lament, oh]1 my flute, lament!
 Solitary, you call to the day
 That awakes too late [to alleviate] pain.
 Solitary, my songs ring out;
 Only the echo calls them forth again
 Through the shadows of quiet night.
 
 Lament, oh my flute, lament
 The lovely, vanished days,
 When a heart that beat for me alone,
 That listened to your gentle songs,
 Became angry when a zephyr soughed,
 And carried off the smallest sound!
 
 Lament, oh my flute, lament!
 Those days shall never return!
 Unmoved, Delia hears
 The anxious yearning of my songs,
 She, whom oft at your sounds
 I saw lost in rapture!
 
 [Lament, oh]1 my flute, lament!
 If the sword of the stern fates
 Soon shortens the thread of my days:
 Oh then sing upon Lethe’s meadows
 To any kindly shadow
 Of my love and my agony!