Twilight hour | With a soft hand, twilight plays

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Dämmerstunde

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG FIN

Die Dämmerung spielt mit weicher Hand
die Harfe der Erinnerungen,
und alte Lieder werden wach,
die lange, lange schon verklungen.

Im blonden Haar tritt vor dich hin
ein Jugendglück, das du besessen . . 
Du breitest deine Arme aus
und weinst und kannst es nicht vergessen.

Confirmed with Sehnen und Suchen, Vierte Auflage, Rostock: C.J.E. Volckmann (Volckman & Wetter), 1905, page 138.

Text Authorship:

by Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), "Dämmerstunde", appears in Sehnen und Suchen: Gedichte, in Einkehr und Wende, in Einsame Wege [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 Yrjö Henrik Kilpinen (1892 - 1959), "Dämmerstunde", op. 76 no. 6 (1932-1933?) [ voice and piano ], from Lauluja Albert Sergelin runoihin, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Twilight hour", copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , "Hämärän hetki", copyright © 2019, (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: 2019-10-23
Line count: 8
Word count: 46

Twilight hour

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

With a soft hand, twilight plays
the harp of memories,
and old songs awaken,
[old songs] that have long, long died away.

With blonde hair, there comes before you
a youthful happiness that you possessed . . 
You spread your arms
and weep and cannot forget it.

Text 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 Albert Sergel (1876 - 1946), "Dämmerstunde", appears in Sehnen und Suchen: Gedichte, in Einkehr und Wende, in Einsame Wege
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2024-12-04
Line count: 8
Word count: 47