Fräulein Gigerlette
Lud mich ein zum Tee.
Ihre Toilette
War gestimmt auf Schnee;
Ganz wie Pierrette
War sie angetan.
Selbst ein Mönch, ich wette,
Sähe Gigerlette
Wohlgefällig an.
War ein rotes Zimmer,
Drin sie mich empfing,
Gelber Kerzenschimmer
In dem Raume hing.
Und sie war wie immer
Leben und Esprit.
Nie vergess ich's, nimmer:
Weinrot war das Zimmer,
Blütenweiss war sie.
Und im Trab mit Vieren
Fuhren wir zu zweit
In das Land spazieren,
Das heisst Heiterkeit.
Daß wir nicht verlieren
Zügel, Ziel und Lauf,
Saß bei dem Kutschieren
Mit den heissen Vieren
Amor hinten auf.
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman (1892 - 1971), "Gigerlette", published 1940, from Bierbaum-Lieder, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arnold Mendelssohn (1855 - 1933), "Gigerlette", published 1912 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arnold Franz Walter Schoenberg (1874 - 1951), "Gigerlette", 1901, from Brettl-Lieder, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Richard Stöhr (1874 - 1967), "Gigerlette", op. 55 (Zehn Lieder) no. 2, published [1918] [ voice and piano ], Leipzig: C.F.W. Siegel [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Erich Zeisl (1905 - 1959), "Gigerlette", c1925 [ soprano and piano ], unpublished [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Malcolm Halliday) , "Gigerlette", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Michael P Rosewall) , "Gigerlette", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Miss dandy", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , "Žižerletė", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Pilar Lirio
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 27
Word count: 96
Miss Gigerlette
invited me to tea.
Her evening gown
was as white as snow;
She was done up
exactly like a Pierrot.
I'd wager that even a monk
would look upon Gigerlette
with pleasure.
A red room it was,
in which she received me.
Yellow candlelight
shimmered in the space,
And as always, she was
full of life and ésprit.
Never can I forget it:
the room was as red as wine,
she white as a blossom.
And in a trot on all fours
the two of us went
for a ride in that land
called happiness.
That we not lose rein
on the course of our destination,
in the background,
near the journeying of our ardent limbs,
perched Cupid.
