Christ-child | He who once was a child on this earth

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by Peter Cornelius (1824 - 1874)

Translation © by Emily Ezust

Christkind

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG ITA

Das einst ein Kind auf Erden war,
Christkindlein, kommt noch jedes Jahr.

Kommet vom hohen Sternenzelt,
Freut und beglücket alle Welt.

Mit Kindern feiert's froh den Tag,
Wo Christkind in der Krippe lag.

Den Christbaum zündet's überall,
Weckt Orgelklang und Glockenschall.

Christkindlein kommt zu Arm und Reich,
Die Guten sind ihm alle gleich.

Danket ihm denn und grüßt es fein,
Auch Euch beglückte Christkindlein.

Confirmed with Peter Cornelius, Gedichte, eingeleitet von Adolf Stern, Leipzig: C.F. Kahnt Nachfolger, 1890, page 144.

Text Authorship:

by Peter Cornelius (1824 - 1874), "Christkind", appears in Gedichte, in 2. Zu eignen Weisen, in Weihnachtslieder [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 Peter Cornelius (1824 - 1874), "Christkind", op. 8 no. 6 (1856), published 1871 [ voice and piano ], from Weihnachtslieder, no. 6, Leipzig, Fritzsch; note: in 1979 Geoffrey Emerson wrote a clarinet part to go along with this song [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Christ-child", copyright ©
ENG English [singable] (Elsa Ebertz) , "The Christ-child"
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Amelia Maria Imbarrato) , "Gesù Bambino", copyright © 2011, (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 between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 64

Christ‑child

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

He who once was a child on this earth,
the Christ-child, comes yet again every year.

He comes from the sublime starry sky,
and delights and inspires all the world!

He joyously celebrates with children the day
the Christchild lay in his manger;

All around, he ignites the Christmas trees
and awakens the peal of an organ and the toll of bells.

The Christ-child comes to the poor and the rich,
for to him, the good are all alike.

Thank him then, and greet him well;
the Christ-child has made you happy as well!

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.
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Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Peter Cornelius (1824 - 1874), "Christkind", 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: 12
Word count: 94