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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 Clemens Maria Wenzeslaus von Brentano (1778 - 1842)
Translation © by Emily Ezust

Ich wollt ein Sträußlein binden
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  CAT DUT ENG ENG FRE
Ich wollt ein Sträußlein binden,
Da kam die dunkle Nacht,
Kein Blümlein war zu finden,
Sonst hätt' ich dir's gebracht.

Da flossen von den Wangen
Mir Thränen in den Klee,
Ein Blümlein aufgegangen
Ich nun im Garten seh.

Das [wollte]1 ich dir brechen
Wohl in dem dunklen Klee,
Doch fing es an zu sprechen:
„Ach, tue mir nicht weh!

„Sei freundlich [in dem]2 Herzen,
Betracht' dein eigen Leid,
Und lasse mich in Schmerzen
Nicht sterben vor der Zeit!“

Und hätt's nicht so gesprochen,
Im Garten ganz allein,
So hätt' ich dir's gebrochen,
Nun aber darf's nicht sein.

Mein Schatz ist ausgeblieben,
Ich bin so ganz allein.
Im Lieben wohnt Betrüben,
Und kann nicht anders sein.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   L. Reichardt •   R. Strauss •   L. Thuille 

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Clemens Brentano's Gesammelte Schriften, herausgegeben von Christian Brentano. Siebenter Band. Comödien, Frankfurt am Main, J. D. Sauerländer's Verlag, 1852, page 83. Appears in Ponce de Leon.

1 Strauss: "wollte"
2 Reichardt, Thuille: "im"

Text Authorship:

  • by Clemens Maria Wenzeslaus von Brentano (1778 - 1842), no title, written 1801/3, appears in Ponce de Leon, first published 1803 [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 Johannes Friedemann , "Ich wollt ein Sträusslein binden", op. 1, published 1893 [ voice and piano ], Hannover, Oertel [sung text not yet checked]
  • by (Leopold) Heinrich (Picot de Peccaduc), Freiherr von Herzogenberg (1843 - 1900), "Das Sträusslein", op. 41 (Sieben Lieder für 1 hohe Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 1, published 1883 [ high voice and piano ], Leipzig, Rieter-Biedermann [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Heinz Holliger (b. 1939), "Ich wollt ein Sträußlein binden" [ soprano and harp ], from Valeria-Lieder, aus Clemens Brentanos "Ponce de Leon" 1803, no. 3, Schott Music [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Carl Isenmann (1839 - 1889), "Ich wollt' ein Sträusschen binden", op. 24 (Vier Lieder im Volkston für Männerchor ) no. 2, published 1880 [ men's chorus a cappella ], Köln, P.J. Tonger [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Luise Reichardt (1779 - 1826), "Für die Laute componirt" [ voice and lute ] [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Richard Georg Strauss (1864 - 1949), "Ich wollt ein Sträußlein binden", op. 68 (Sechs Lieder nach Gedichten von Clemens Brentano) no. 2 (1918/9) [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Ludwig Wilhelm Andreas Maria Thuille (1861 - 1907), "Ich wollt' ein Sträusslein binden", op. 24 (Drei Lieder nach Gedichten von Clemens Brentano) no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Emily Ezust) , no title, copyright ©
  • ENG English [singable] (Anonymous/Unidentified Artist) , "I went to pluck a nosegay"
  • ENG English (Amy Pfrimmer) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Je voulais faire un bouquet", copyright © 2012, (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: 24
Word count: 117

I would have made a bouquet
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
I would have made a bouquet
but dark night arrived
and there was no little flower to be found,
or I would have brought it.

Then down my cheeks flowed
tears onto the clover -
I saw that one small flower had come up
now in the garden.

I wanted to pick it for you
deep in the dark clover,
but it began to speak:
"Ah, do not harm me!

"Be kind-hearted,
consider your own grief,
and do not let me
die in agony before my time!"

And if it had not spoken so,
in the garden all alone,
I would have plucked it for you,
but now that cannot be.

My sweetheart has not come,
I am so entirely alone.
In love dwells tribulation,
and it can be no different.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of title(s):
"Für die Laute componirt" = "Composed for the lute"
"Ich wollt' ein Sträusschen binden" = "I would have made a bouquet"
"Das Sträusslein" = "The bouquet"
"Ich wollt ein Sträusslein binden" = "I would have made a bouquet"


Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust

    Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:

    Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
    from the LiederNet Archive

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.
    licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Clemens Maria Wenzeslaus von Brentano (1778 - 1842), no title, written 1801/3, appears in Ponce de Leon, first published 1803
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 130

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

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