by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Die Laute
Language: German (Deutsch)
Ich bin die Laute. Willst du meinen Leib beschreiben, seine schön gewölbten Streifen: sprich so, als sprächest du von einer reifen gewölbten Feige. Übertreib das Dunkel, das du in mir siehst. Es war Tullias Dunkelheit. In ihrer Scham war nicht so viel, und ihr erhelltes Haar war wie ein heller Saal. Zuweilen nahm sie etwas Klang von meiner Oberfläche in ihr Gesicht und sang zu mir. Dann spannte ich mich gegen ihre Schwäche, und endlich war mein Inneres in ihr.
Note: Tulia was a famous 16th century Italian courtesan.
Text Authorship:
- by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Die Laute", written 1907, appears in Der neuen Gedichte anderer Teil, first published 1908 [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 Donald James Martino (1931 - 2005), "Die Laute", 1961, published 1970 [ mezzo-soprano, piano ], from Two Rilke Songs, no. 1, also set in English [sung text not yet checked]
- by Priscilla McLean (b. 1942), "Die Laute", 1965, first performed 1966 [ voice and violin ], from Rainer Maria Rilke Poems, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alfred Nieman (1914 - 1997), "Die Laute" [ soprano, tenor, string quartet ], from Rilke song cycle, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Erik Norby (1936 - 2007), "Die Laute", 1989 [ voice and piano ], from 6 Herbstlieder, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Léon Orthel (1905 - 1985), "Die Laute", op. 26 no. 2 (1948?) [ voice and piano ], from Drie liederen, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Xavier Rodríguez (b. 1946), "Die Laute", 1971 [ voice and piano ], from Four Poems from ‘Neue Gedichte’, no. 2, Alhambra [sung text not yet checked]
- by James Weeks (b. 1978), "Die Laute", 2003, first performed 2003 [ mixed chorus ], from Selbstbildnis als Laute, no. 1, New Voices (BMIC/SAM) [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Jean Williams Lunn (b. 1933) , "The lute" ; composed by Donald James Martino.
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Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2007-02-25
Line count: 12
Word count: 80