The clouds | Quickly as arrows they go by

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sometimes misattributed to Christian Reinhold (1813 - 1856) and by Felix Reinhold Köstlin (1842 - 1867)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs, Harald Krebs

Die Wolken

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG FRE ITA

Rasch wie die Pfeile zieh'n sie dahin,
Ach! Dass du wüsstest, wie weit und wohin[!]
Flögest so gerne von hinnen!
Leicht wie der Vogel im luftigen Raum,
Flögest du dort in der Wolke Saum,
Leben und Licht zu gewinnen!

Note: the text is misattributed to C. Köstlin on the score, but is likely by Lang's son Felix.

Text Authorship:

sometimes misattributed to Christian Reinhold (1813 - 1856)
by Felix Reinhold Köstlin (1842 - 1867) [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 Dorothea Hofmann (b. 1961), "Die Wolken", first performed 2022 [ voice and piano ], from Leicht wie ein Vogel . . ., no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
by Josephine Lang (1815 - 1880), "Die Wolken", op. 25 (Sechs Lieder) no. 5, published 1860 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig: Friedrich Kistner [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) (Harald Krebs) , "The clouds", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Les nuages", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Le nuvole", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2006-12-11
Line count: 6
Word count: 39

The clouds

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Quickly as arrows they go by.
Oh, if you but knew how far and whereto!
You would be so glad to fly from here!
Lightly as birds in the airy expanse
You would fly there at the edge of the clouds,
To attain light and life!

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2006 by Sharon Krebs and Harald 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) misattributed to Christian Reinhold (1813 - 1856) and by Felix Reinhold Köstlin (1842 - 1867)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2006-12-11
Line count: 6
Word count: 46