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Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

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.

If you wish to reprint translations, please use the Reprint Basket (upper right hand corner).

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by Peter Cornelius (1824 - 1874)
Translation © by Emily Ezust

Die Hirten
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG ITA
Hirten wachen im Feld,
Nacht ist rings auf der Welt,
Wach sind die Hirten alleine
  Im Haine.

Und ein Engel so licht
Grüßet die Hirten und spricht:
"Christ, das Heil aller Frommen,
  Ist kommen!"

Engel singen umher:
"Gott im Himmel sei Ehr'
Und den Menschen hienieden
  Sei Frieden!"

Eilen die Hirten fort,
Eilen zum heilgen Ort,
Beten an in den Windlein
  Das Kindlein.

Confirmed with Gedichte von Peter Cornelius, eingeleitet von Adolf Stern, Leipzig, C. F. Kahnt Nachfolger, 1890, page 140.


Text Authorship:

  • by Peter Cornelius (1824 - 1874), "Die Hirten", appears in Gedichte, in 2. Zu eignen Weisen, in Weihnachtslieder [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 Peter Cornelius (1824 - 1874), "Die Hirten", op. 8 no. 2b (1870), published 1871 [ voice and piano ], from Weihnachtslieder, no. 2b, Leipzig, Fritzsch [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "The shepherds", copyright ©
  • ENG English [singable] (Elsa Ebertz) , "The Shepherds"
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Amelia Maria Imbarrato) , "I pastori", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 63

The shepherds
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
Add this translation to your Reprint Basket
Shepherds watch in the field;
night surrounds the world;
only the shepherds are awake
in the grove.

And an angel so bright
greets the shepherds and says:
"Christ, the salvation of all pious souls,
is come!"

The angels sing all around:
"Glory to God in Heaven!
And to men down below,
peace!"

The shepherds hurry forth,
hurry to the holy place,
and worship the infant
in swaddling clothes.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf.


Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Peter Cornelius (1824 - 1874), "Die Hirten", appears in Gedichte, in 2. Zu eignen Weisen, in Weihnachtslieder
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 68

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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