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Ich möchte einer werden so wie die, die durch die Nacht mit wilden Pferden fahren, mit Fackeln, die gleich aufgegangnen Haaren in ihres Jagens großem Winde wehn. Vorn möcht ich stehen wie in einem Kahne, groß und wie eine Fahne aufgerollt. Dunkel, aber mit einem Helm von Gold, der unruhig glänzt. Und hinter mir gereiht zehn Männer aus derselben Dunkelheit mit Helmen, die, wie meiner, unstät sind, bald klar wie Glas, bald dunkel, alt und blind. Und einer steht bei mir und bläst uns Raum mit der Trompete, welche blitzt und schreit, und bläst uns eine schwarze Einsamkeit, durch die wir rasen wie ein rascher Traum: Die Häuser fallen hinter uns ins Knie, die Gassen biegen sich uns schief entgegen, die Plätze weichen aus: wir fassen sie, und unsre Rosse rauschen wie ein Regen.
Confirmed with Rainer Maria Rilke, Die Gedichte, Frankfurt am Main: Insel Verlag, 1997, page 332.
Authorship:
- by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Der Knabe", appears in Das Buch der Bilder, first published 1920 [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 Bruno Bartolozzi (1911 - 1980), "Der Knabe", published 1959 [ soprano and chamber orchestra ], from Immagine, no. 2, Firenze : A. Bruzzichelli [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ralf Michael Benesch (b. 1962), "Der Knabe" [ 2 reciters, bass drum, and saxophone ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Harald Genzmer (1909 - 2007), "Der Knabe", 1940-87, from Acht Lieder nach verschiedenen Dichtern [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Rudolf) Walther Hirschberg (1889 - 1960), "Der Knabe", op. 43 no. 9 (1937) [ medium voice and piano ], from Buch der Bilder; Zwölf Lieder, no. 9, Berlin : Verlag der Signale für die musikalische Welt [sung text not yet checked]
- by Willy Kehrer (1902 - 1976), "Der Knabe", op. 28, Heft 2 (Buch der Bilder) no. 8 (1922), first performed 1938 [ soprano and mezzo-soprano (ad libitum) and piano ], from Eine Rainer-Maria-Rilke-Stunde, no. 17, Thüringen : Willy-Kehrer-Archiv Schmölln [sung text not yet checked]
- by Karl Julius Marx (1897 - 1985), "Der Knabe", op. 1 (Drei gemischte Chöre) no. 3 (1924), published c1955, copyright © 1925 [ mixed chorus ], In: Partitur-Bibliothek Nr. 2510, Wiesbaden : Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
- by Léon Orthel (1905 - 1985), "Der Knabe", op. 54 no. 2 (1967) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Anton Schoendlinger (1919 - 1983), "Der Knabe", 1967 [ voice and piano ], from Drei Lieder nach Gedichten von Rainer Maria Rilke, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gustav Schwickert (1855 - 1901), "Der Knabe", op. 5 (Fünf Lieder von Rainer Maria Rilke) no. 5, published 1900? [ voice and piano or orchestra ], Freiburg I. Br. : [G. Schwickert] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gustav Schwickert (1855 - 1901), "Der Knabe", op. 12 no. 1 [ medium voice and orchestra ], from cantata Sturmnacht, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Martin Seith-Böhm (b. 1958), "Der Knabe", 2008 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Hans Uwe Strübing (b. 1956), "Der Knabe", op. 46 no. 2 (2000), first performed 2000 [ narrator, 2 sopranos, piano ], from Kasper-Hauser-Quartett, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Michael Thilo , "Der Knabe", from Rilke-Lieder, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Manfred Trojahn (b. 1949), "Der Knabe", 2012, published 2012 [ high voice and piano ], from Ich will ein Reiter werden, no. 1, Kassel : Baerenreiter [sung text not yet checked]
- by Peter Visser (b. 1939), "Der Knabe", 1981, from Zes Rilke-liederen, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Martin Widmaier (b. 1960), "Der Knabe" [ voice and piano ], from Rilke-Lieder, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Derek Young , "Der Knabe", 1959-1960, published 1989?, copyright © 1960 [ bass and piano ], from Das Buch der Bilder, no. 3, West Hagley : Lynwood [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "The lad", copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Le garçon", copyright © 2012, (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: 19
Word count: 134
I would like to be someone like those who travel through the night with wild horses, with torches that like loosened hair stream forth in the great wind of their chase. I would like to stand at the front as in a boat, large and rolled up like a flag. Dark, but with a casque of gold that shines restlessly. And lined up behind me ten men made of the same darkness with casques that, like mine, are changeable, now clear as glass, now dark, old, and blind. And one stands beside me and, to make space for us, blows into his trumpet, which flashes and shrieks, and blows us a black solitude through which we race like a rapid dream: Behind us, the houses fall upon their knees, the streets bend themselves crookedly toward us, the squares retreat: we seize them, and our horses rush like a rain.
Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2024 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 Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Der Knabe", appears in Das Buch der Bilder, first published 1920
This text was added to the website: 2024-02-29
Line count: 19
Word count: 149