Tonen | I skogen smågutten gikk dagen lang

by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832 - 1910)

I skogen smågutten gikk dagen lang

Language: Norwegian (Bokmål)

Our translations: FRE

I skogen smågutten gikk dagen lang,
  gikk dagen lang;
der hadde han hørt slik en underlig sang,
  underlig sang.

Gutten en fløyte av selju skar,
  av selju skar -
og prøvde om tonen der inne var,
  der inne var.

Tonen den hvisket og nevnte seg,
  og nevnte seg,
men best om han lydde, den løp sin vei,
  den løp sin vei.

Titt når han sov, den til ham smøg,
  den til ham smøg,
og over hans panne med elskov strøg,
  med elskov strøg,

Ville den fange, og våknet bratt,
  og våknet bratt;
  men tonen hang fast i den bleke natt,
  den bleke natt.

"Herre min Gud, ta meg der inn,
  ta meg der inn,
ti tonen har fått mitt hele sinn,
  mitt hele sinn."

Herren han svarte: "Den er din venn,
  den er din venn;
skjønt aldri en time du eier den,
  du eier en.

Alle de andre dog litt forslår,
  dog litt forslår,
mot denne du søker, men aldri når,
  men aldri når." -

Available sung texts: ← What is this?

• J. Haarklou

J. Haarklou sets stanzas 1-7

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832 - 1910), "Tonen", appears in Arne [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 Johannes Haarklou (1847 - 1925), "Tonen", stanzas 1-7 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Per Lasson (1859 - 1883), "Tonen", published 1899 [ voice and piano ], from Lieder-Album. Fünfzehn Gesänge für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte, no. 1, Leipzig, W. Hansen [sung text not yet checked]
by Adolf Fredrik Lindblad (1801 - 1878), "Tonen", c1871-1872 [ voice and piano ], from Sånger och Visor vid Pianoforte. 7:de och 8:de delen, no. 188 [sung text not yet checked]
by Rikard Nordraak (1842 - 1866), "Tonen" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Fredrika Wickman (b. 1852), "I skogen smågutten gikk dagen lang", op. 10 (Tre romancer) no. 3, published 1876? [ high voice and piano ], Kjøenhavn : Horneman & Erslev; also in Sang-Album, no. 11 (1895, Kjobenhavn : Wilhelm Hansens Musik-Forlag) [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in English, a translation by Edmund William Gosse (1849 - 1928) , "The boy and the flute" [an adaptation] ; composed by Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, Sir.
- Go to the text.
Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Edmund Lobedanz (1820 - 1882) , no title, appears in Björnstjerne Björnson's Bauernnovellen, Hildburghausen, Verlag des Bibliographischen Instituts, p. 102, first published 1865 ; composed by Ernst Paul Flügel.
- Go to the text.

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

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-09-13
Line count: 32
Word count: 164