You must be daring and seize every passing opportunity

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by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857)

Translation © by Emily Ezust

Wagen mußt du und flüchtig erbeuten

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT ENG FRE FRE ITA

Wagen mußt du und flüchtig erbeuten,
Hinter uns schon durch die Nacht hör' ich's schreiten,
Schwing' auf mein Roß dich nur schnell 
Und küß' noch im Flug mich wildschönes Kind,
Geschwind,
Denn der Tod ist ein rascher Gesell.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• P. Cornelius • H. Wolf

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857), no title, appears in Gedichte, in 1. Wanderlieder, in Der Soldat, no. 2 [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 Peter Cornelius (1824 - 1874), "Reiterlied", op. 12 (3 Männerchöre) no. 2 (1872-3) [ TTBB chorus a cappella ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Hugo Wolf (1860 - 1903), "Der Soldat II", 1886-8 [ voice and piano ], from Eichendorff-Lieder, no. 6
Score: IMSLP [external link] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "El soldat II", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Emily Ezust) , no title, copyright ©
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Le soldat", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Stéphane Goldet) (Pierre de Rosamel) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Devi osare e rapidamente ottenere", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 6
Word count: 38

You must be daring and seize every...

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Add this translation to the Basket

You must be daring and seize every passing opportunity;
already I hear behind us the sound of marching through the night.
Leap onto my horse quickly now
and kiss me in our flight, lovely wild girl,
quickly!
for Death is a swift fellow.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translation of title "Der Soldat II" = "The soldier II"

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 Joseph Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788 - 1857), no title, appears in Gedichte, in 1. Wanderlieder, in Der Soldat, no. 2
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 6
Word count: 43