Before the harvest | There moves below a cloudless sky

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 Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (1825 - 1898)

Translation © by Peter Palmer

Vor der Ernte

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

[An wolkenreinem]¹ Himmel geht
Die blanke Sichel schön,
Im Korne drunter wogt und weht
Und rauscht und wühlt der Föhn.

Sie wandert voller Melodie
Hochüber durch das Land,
Früh morgen schwingt die Schnittrin sie
Mit sonnenbrauner Hand.

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Hausegger: "Am wolkenreinen"; further changes may exist not shown above.

Text Authorship:

by Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (1825 - 1898), "Vor der Ernte" [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 Siegmund von Hausegger (1872 - 1948), "Vor der Ernte", published 1898 [ medium voice and piano ], from Lieder und Gesänge für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte, no. 17, Berlin, Ries & Erler [sung text not yet checked]
by Othmar Schoeck (1886 - 1957), "Vor der Ernte", op. 6 (Sechs Lieder für höhere Stimme und Klavier) no. 3 (1905), published 1907 [ high voice and piano ], Zürich, Hug [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Peter Palmer) , "Before the harvest", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2007-02-06
Line count: 8
Word count: 38

Before the harvest

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

There moves below a cloudless sky
The gleaming scythe so smooth,
Amid the corn where blows and heaves
And soughs and rolls the foehn.

It travels, full of melody,
High across the land,
The early morning reaper plies it,
Her hands browned by the sun.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2009 by Peter Palmer, (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 Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (1825 - 1898), "Vor der Ernte"
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2009-11-14
Line count: 8
Word count: 45