In my home town | Early today I walked through the town

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by Anna (Nuhn) Ritter (1865 - 1921)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

In der Vaterstadt

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Ich bin heute früh durch die Stadt gegangen
Und habe zu suchen angefangen . . .
Die Straßen lief ich wohl auf und ab
Und fand doch Keinen, der Antwort gab,
Wo all meine Lieben
Geblieben.

Da habe ich denn meine zitternden Fragen
Zum alten Stadtthor hinaus getragen,
Und draußen fand ich sie, Grab an Grab,
Die ich vor Jahren besessen hab' --
Tief unter Steinen
Die Meinen!

Confirmed with Anna Ritter, Befreiung. Neue Gedichte, Fünfte Auflage, Stuttgart: J.G. Cotta'sche Buchhandlung Nachfolger, 1900, page 60.

Text Authorship:

by Anna (Nuhn) Ritter (1865 - 1921), "In der Vaterstadt", appears in Befreiung. Neue Gedichte, in 3. Aus der Einsamkeit, no. 14 [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 Pieter Molenbroek , "In der Vaterstadt", published 1929 [ voice and piano ], from Sechs Lieder nach Gedichten von Anna Ritter, no. 1, München: Halbreiter [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "In my home town", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2023-10-11
Line count: 12
Word count: 67

In my home town

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Early today I walked through the town
And began to look [for them] . . .
I ran up and down the streets
And found no one who could give me an answer
To the question of where all my loved ones
Had gone.

So then I took my trembling questions
Out through the town gate,
And out there I found them, grave by grave,
Those who had been mine years ago --
Far beneath the gravestones --
My people!

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), "In der Vaterstadt", appears in Befreiung. Neue Gedichte, in 3. Aus der Einsamkeit, no. 14
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2023-10-15
Line count: 12
Word count: 78