In foreign lands | I would like to return home quietly

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by Adolf Bartels (1862 - 1945)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

In der Fremde

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Ich möchte still nach Hause gehn
Und nimmer wieder fort,
Mein Knabenstübchen wiedersehn
Und manchen andern lieben Ort,
In meines Vaters Garten
Wie einst den Lenz erwarten --
O wär', o wär' ich dort!

Vor meinem Fenster steht ein Baum,
Der ist nun lange leer.
Den blauen Himmel sieht er kaum
[Vor]¹ grauen Wänden [ringsumher]².
Bald ist der Baum erstorben,
Bald bin ich hier verdorben,
Seh' nie die Heimat mehr!

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• R. Leberl

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Jacob Bödewadt (ed.), Zwischen Zwei Meeren. 25 Dichter der Nordmark. Ein niederdeutsches Dichterbuch, Hamburg, Braunschweig, Berlin: G. Westermann, 1920, page 223.

¹ Leberl: "Von"
² Leberl: "rings umher"

Text Authorship:

by Adolf Bartels (1862 - 1945), "In der Fremde" [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 Rudolf Leberl (1884 - 1952), "In der Fremde", op. 24 (Acht Gitarrenlieder) no. 1 (1915), published 2006 [ voice and guitar ], Frankfurt am Main: Laurentius-Musikverlag [sung text checked 1 time]
by Frank Valentin Van der Stucken (1858 - 1929), "In der Fremde", op. 33 (Fünf volkstümliche Lieder) no. 4, published 1904 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Ernest Vietor (flourished 1905-1930), "In der Fremde", op. 6 no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]

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

DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (August Matthijs) , "In den Vreemde"
ENG English [singable] (J. A. Homan) , "Home-sick"
ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "In foreign lands", copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor], Hanne-Joost Peeters

This text was added to the website: 2009-02-15
Line count: 14
Word count: 72

In foreign lands

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

I would like to return home quietly
And never go away again,
[Would like] to see my boyhood room 
And many another dear place;
In my father’s garden [I would like]
To await spring as I once did --
Oh were, oh were I there!

In front of my window stands a tree,
It has long been devoid of leaves.
It can hardly see the blue sky
Because of all the grey walls round about.
Soon the tree shall have died,
Soon I shall have perished here,
[And] never see my homeland again!

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2021 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 Adolf Bartels (1862 - 1945), "In der Fremde"
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2021-09-17
Line count: 14
Word count: 92