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Wie geisterhaft im Sinken Und Steigen ist mein Leben. Stets seh' ich mich mir winken, dem Winkendem entschweben. Ich seh' mich als Gelächter, als tiefe Trauer wieder, als wilden Redeflechter; doch alles dies sinkt nieder. Und ist zu allen Zeiten wohl niemals recht gewesen. Ich bin vergeßne Weiten Zu wandern auserlesen.
Authorship
- by Robert Walser (1878 - 1956) [author's text not yet checked 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 Heinz Holliger (b. 1939), "Zu philosophisch", 1990/1 [counter-tenor, clarinet, accordion, and contrabass], from Beiseit: Zwölf Lieder nach Gedichten von Robert Walser, no. 6 [ sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Bertram Kottmann , "Overly philosophic", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission ; composed by Gary Bachlund.
Researcher for this text: Ferdinando Albeggiani
This text was added to the website: 2007-08-29
Line count: 12
Word count: 51
A phantom in its falling and rising is my being. Ever I see me calling myself yet from me fleeing. I see myself -- a laughter, a sadness darkly sprawling, a demagogue thereafter; yet everything is falling. And may in my life's phases have never had a bearing. In long forgotten spaces I find myself wayfaring.
Authorship
- by Bertram Kottmann , "Overly philosophic", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Robert Walser (1878 - 1956)
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)
- by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Overly philosophic", 2012 [medium voice and piano] [ sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Bertram Kottmann
This text was added to the website: 2009-04-07
Line count: 12
Word count: 55