La trota | In un chiaro ruscelletto

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by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739 - 1791)

Translation © by Amelia Maria Imbarrato, Antonio Zencovich

Die Forelle

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT CHI DUT ENG ENG ENG ENG FIN FRE GRE ITA SPA

In einem Bächlein helle,
Da schoß in froher Eil
Die launische Forelle
Vorüber, wie ein Pfeil:
Ich stand an dem Gestade,
Und sah' in süsser Ruh
Des muntern [Fisches]¹ Bade
Im klaren Bächlein zu.

Ein Fischer mit der Ruthe
Wol an dem Ufer stand,
Und sah's mit kaltem Blute
Wie sich das Fischlein wand.
So lang dem Wasser Helle,
So dacht' ich, nicht gebricht,
So fängt er die Forelle
Mit seiner Angel nicht.

Doch [endlich]² ward dem Diebe
Die Zeit zu lang; er macht
Das Bächlein tückisch trübe:
Und eh' ich es gedacht,
So zuckte seine Ruthe;
Das Fischlein zappelt dran;
Und ich, mit regem Blute,
Sah die Betrogne an.

[Ihr, die ihr noch am]³ Quelle
Der sichern Jugend weilt,
Denkt doch an die Forelle;
Seht ihr Gefahr, so eilt!
Meist fehlt ihr nur aus Mangel
Der Klugheit; Mädchen, seht
Verführer mit der Angel -
Sonst blutet ihr zu spät.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• F. Schubert

F. Schubert sets stanzas 1-3

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Chr. Daniel Friedrich Schubarts Gedichte aus dem Kerker. Mit allerhöchst-gnädist Kaiserl. Privilegio. Carlsruhe, bey Christian Gottlieb Schmieder 1785, pages 228-229; with Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubarts sämtliche Gedichte. Von ihm selbst herausgegeben. Zweiter Band. Stuttgart, in der Buchdruckerei der Herzoglichen Hohen Carlsschule, 1786, pages 139-140; and with Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart's Gedichte. Herausgegeben von seinem Sohne Ludwig Schubart. Zweyter Theil. Frankfurt am Main 1802, bey J. C. Hermann, pages 302-303.

Note: Schubert produced over the years four copies of Die Forelle, resulting in five slightly different versions. The third version, dedicated to Josef Hüttenbrenner and presumably written down from memory, has the final two lines (of stanza 3) differently:

Ich sah mit regem Blute
Das arme Fischlein an.

Note: Schubart, who also set the poem himself, had an additional stanza between stanza 3 and 4 that he supressed in the printed edition:

So scheust auch manche Schöne
Im vollen Strom der Zeit
Und sieht nicht die Sirene
Die ihr im Wirbel dräut.
Sie folgt dem Drang der Liebe
Und eh' sie sichs versieht
So wird das Bächlein trübe
Und ihre Unschuld flieht.

¹ Schubert: "Fischleins"
² Schubart (1786 and 1802 editions): "plözlich"
³ Schubart (1786 and 1802 editions): "Die ihr am goldnen"

Text Authorship:

by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739 - 1791), "Die Forelle", written 1782-83 [author's text checked 2 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 Friedrich August Baumbach (1753 - 1813), "Die Forelle" [ voice and piano ], from Lyrische Gedichte vermischten Inhalts mit Melodie zum Singen beim Klavier, no. 2, Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739 - 1791), "Die Forelle", 1783 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Die Forelle", D 550 (1817?), stanzas 1-3 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 149

La trota

Language: Italian (Italiano) after the German (Deutsch)

In un chiaro ruscelletto,
guizzava lieta e svelta
la trota capricciosa,
veloce come una freccia.
Io stavo sulla riva
e osservavo in dolce calma
il bagno del bel pesciolino
nel limpido ruscelletto.

Un pescatore con la lenza
si mise sulla sponda
e guardò, a sangue freddo,
dove andava il pesciolino.
Fin che l'acqua chiara,
pensavo, non verrà meno,
non potrà catturare la trota
col suo amo.

Ma infine al disonesto
l'attesa sembrò lunga. Rese
il ruscello torbido, il perfido,
e prima che me ne accorgessi,
fece scattare la sua lenza,
il pesciolino si agitava, preso,
ed io col sangue sconvolto
guardai la vittima ingannata.

Voi che vi trovate alla fontana dorata 
della giovinezza baldanzosa,
pensate dunque alla trota
e, se vedete il pericolo, scappate via!
Spesso voi, ragazze, sbagliate
per mancanza di prudenza:
state attente al seduttore con il suo amo,
altrimenti piangerete troppo tardi!

Note: the final stanza (not used by Schubert) is here translated by Antonio Zencovich, 2014.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2008 by Amelia Maria Imbarrato and Antonio Zencovich, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Antonio Zencovich. Contact: antonio (DOT) zencovich (AT) tiscali (DOT) it
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739 - 1791), "Die Forelle", written 1782-83
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2008-02-01
Line count: 32
Word count: 145

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