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Wie jede Blüte welkt und jede Jugend Dem Alter weicht, blüht jede Lebensstufe, Blüht jede Weisheit auch und jede Tugend Zu ihrer Zeit und darf nicht ewig dauern. Es muß das Herz bei jedem Lebensrufe Bereit zum Abschied sein und Neubeginne, Um sich in Tapferkeit und ohne Trauern In andre, neue Bindungen zu geben. Und jedem Anfang wohnt ein Zauber inne, Der uns beschützt und der uns hilft, zu leben. Wir sollen heiter Raum um Raum durchschreiten, An keinem wie an einer Heimat hängen, Der Weltgeist will nicht fesseln uns und engen, Er will uns Stuf' um Stufe heben, weiten. Kaum sind wir heimisch einem Lebenskreise Und traulich eingewohnt, so droht Erschlaffen, Nur wer bereit zu Aufbruch ist und Reise, Mag lähmender Gewöhnung sich entraffen. Es wird vielleicht auch noch die Todesstunde Uns neuen Räumen jung entgegen senden, Des Lebens Ruf an uns wird niemals enden... Wohlan denn, Herz, nimm Abschied und gesunde!
About the headline (FAQ)
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Confirmed with Hermann Hesse, Sämtliche Werke, herausgegeben von Volker Michels, Band 10 Die Gedichte, bearbeitet von Peter Huber, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2002, page 366.
Text Authorship:
- by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962), "Stufen", written 1941 [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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Stufen", 2004 [ bass or bass-baritone and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Heinrich Creuzburg (b. 1907), "Stufen", published 1975 [ baritone and small orchestra ], from Drei Gesänge nach Gedichten aus "Das Glasperlenspiel", no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Richard Czelinski (1901 - 1969), "Stufen", 1949 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Kurt Fiebig (1908 - 1988), "Stufen", published 1954 [ four-part mixed chorus a cappella ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Hans Gál (1890 - 1987), "In neue Räume", 1965, first performed 1965 [ SATB chorus, flute, oboe, 2 clarinets, bassoon, 2 horns and strings ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Anton Heiller (1923 - 1979), "Stufen", 1961 [ four-part chorus of equal voices ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Richard Junker , "Stufen", 1947 [ tenor and piano ], from Fünf Lieder, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Wilhelm Lache , "Stufen", 1957 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Paul Müller-Zürich (1898 - 1993), "Stufen" [ four-part men's chorus a cappella ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ernst Pfiffner (1922 - 2011), "Stufen", <<1983 [ voice and piano ], from Vier Glasperlenspiel-Gesänge, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Hermann Dietrich Schmidt , "Stufen", 1956 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Christian Immo Schneider (b. 1935), "Stufen", op. 42a no. 1 (1977) [ medium voice and piano ], from Stufen - Hesse-Lieder 1977 für mittlere Singstimme, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Wilhelm Weismann (1900 - 1980), "Stufen", published 1959 [ four-part mixed chorus a cappella ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English [singable] (Walter A. Aue) , "Steps", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Degrés", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2007-05-12
Line count: 22
Word count: 153
Like ev'ry flower wilts, like youth is fading and turns to age, so also one's achieving: Each virtue and each wisdom needs parading in one's own time, and must not last forever. The heart must be, at each new call for leaving, prepared to part and start without the tragic, without the grief - with courage to endeavor a novel bond, a disparate connection: for each beginning bears a special magic that nurtures living and bestows protection. We'll walk from space to space in glad progression and should not cling to one as homestead for us. The cosmic spirit will not bind nor bore us; it lifts and widens us in ev'ry session: for hardly set in one of life's expanses we make it home, and apathy commences. But only he, who travels and takes chances, can break the habits' paralyzing stances. It even may be that the last of hours will make us once again a youthful lover: The call of life to us forever flowers... Anon, my heart! Do part and do recover!
Text Authorship:
- Singable translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2008 by Walter A. Aue, (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.
Walter A. Aue.  Contact: waue (AT) dal (DOT) ca
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962), "Stufen", written 1941
This text was added to the website: 2008-06-01
Line count: 22
Word count: 174