Why? | Oh, that anxious way back

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by Anna (Nuhn) Ritter (1865 - 1921)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Warum?

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Chosen for Diff

O jenen bangen Weg zurück,
Da jeder Baum von ihm erzählte,
Da jedes Blatt und jeder Stein
Mit Fragen meine Seele quälte,
Da Alles sprach: Warum? Warum?

"Warum gehst du den Weg allein,
Mit ernster Stirn und blassen Wangen,
Den du am blauen Frühlingstag
So jubelnd einst zu Zwei'n gegangen?" --
-- Mein Herz schrie auf . . . mein Mund blieb stumm --

O du verzehrendes "Warum".

Confirmed with Anna Ritter, Gedichte, Neunte Auflage, Stuttgart und Berlin: J.G. Cotta'sche Buchhandlung Nachfolger, 1900, page 46.

Text Authorship:

by Anna (Nuhn) Ritter (1865 - 1921), "Warum?", appears in Gedichte, in 1. Das Ringlein sprang entzwei, no. 28 [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 Heinrich Kaspar Schmid (1874 - 1953), "Warum?", op. 17 (Fünf Gedichte) no. 2, published 1913 [ voice and piano ], München: Wunderhornverlag [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Why?", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Pourquoi ?", copyright © 2018, (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: 2011-09-03
Line count: 11
Word count: 65

Why?

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Chosen for Diff

Oh, that anxious way back,
Where every tree spoke of him,
Where every leaf and every stone
Tortured my soul with questions,
Where everything spoke: Why? Why?

"Why do you walk the path alone,
With solemn brow and pale cheeks,
[The path] that on a blue spring day
You once walked so jubilantly as a twosome?" --
-- My heart shrieked out . . . my mouth remained mute --

Oh, you all-consuming "Why".

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2023 by Sharon Krebs, (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. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Anna (Nuhn) Ritter (1865 - 1921), "Warum?", appears in Gedichte, in 1. Das Ringlein sprang entzwei, no. 28
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2023-10-09
Line count: 11
Word count: 71