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Ich schlafe tief in starrer Winternacht, Mir ist, ich lieg' in Grabesnacht, Als ob ich spät um Mitternacht gestorben sei Und schon ein Sternenleben tot. Zu meinem Kinde zog mein Glück Und alles Leiden in [das Leid]1 zurück, Nur meine Sehnsucht sucht sich heim Und zuckt wie zähes Leben Und stirbt. Ich schlafe tief in starrer Winternacht, Mir ist, ich lieg' in Grabesnacht.
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotesConfirmed with Else Lasker-Schüler,, Gesammelte Gedichte, 1. Auflage, Leipzig, Verlag der Weißen Bücher, 1917, page 49 (above); and confirmed with Else Lasker-Schüler, Styx. Gedichte, Axel Juncker Verlag, Berlin, 1902 (see notes).
Notes
Stanza 1, line 4: in the 1902 edition of the poem, this line ended with "Sternenleben tot sei".
Stanza 2: in the 1902 edition of the poem, this stanza had one more line and ended with the following lines:
Und zuckt wie zähes Leben Und stirbt zurück In sich.1 Daffner: "mich selbst"
Text Authorship:
- by Else Lasker-Schüler (1869 - 1945), "Winternacht", subtitle: "Cellolied", appears in Styx, Gedichte, first published 1902 [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 Johann Karl Brandeis (1910 - 1987), "Winternacht", 1962 [ alto and strings ], from Vier ernste Lieder, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Johann Karl Brandeis (1910 - 1987), "Winternacht", 1987 [ voice and piano ], from Sieben Lieder, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Hugo Daffner (1882 - 1936), "Winternacht", op. 97 (Elf Gedichte für eine Singstimme und Klavier) no. 4 (1923-1924) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Abel Ehrlich (1915 - 2003), "Winternacht", subtitle: "Cellolied", 1998 [ voice and cello ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Kálmán (1929 - 2015), "Winternacht", 1994, first performed 2000 [ voice and piano ], from Viva! [21] Lieder, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Dirk Michael Kirsch (b. 1965), "Winternacht", op. 6 no. 8 (1992-2010) [ soprano, oboe or clarinet, harp ], from Nocturnes für Sopran, Oboe d’amore (Klarinette in A) und Harfe, no. 8 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Klaus Miehling (b. 1963), "Winternacht", op. 297 no. 4 (2019) [ voice and piano ], from Sechs Lieder nach Else Lasker-Schüler, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Wilhelm Rettich (1892 - 1988), "Winternacht", op. 26a no. 24 [ voice and piano ], from Else Lasker-Schüler Zyklus , no. 24, Book IV -- Nachklänge [sung text not yet checked]
- by Andreas Schmidt-Kaminski (b. 1968), "Winternacht", 2012 [ baritone and piano ], from November Songs für Bariton und Klavier, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Christian Immo Schneider (b. 1935), "Winternacht", 1986/2005 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from 54 Lieder für Mezzosopran und Klavier, no. 52 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sybil Westendorp (1910 - 1999), "Winternacht (Cello-Lied)", 1980 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Michael P Rosewall) , copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor] , Johann Winkler , Karl Bellenberg [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2012-12-12
Line count: 11
Word count: 64
I sleep deep in the rigid night of Winter, It feels to me, as though I lie in a grave-night, As if I died late at midnight And already a star-life dead. My happiness was drawn to my child And every sorrow back to Sorrow, Only my longing seeks its way home And twitches like tenacious life And dies. I sleep deep in the rigid night of Winter, It feels to me, as though I lie in a grave-night,
About the headline (FAQ)
Translations of titles:
"Winternacht" = "Winter NIght"
"Winternacht (Cello-Lied)" = "Winter Night (Cello Song)"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2026 by Michael P Rosewall, (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.
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Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Else Lasker-Schüler (1869 - 1945), "Winternacht", subtitle: "Cellolied", appears in Styx, Gedichte, first published 1902
This text was added to the website: 2026-08-05
Line count: 11
Word count: 79