You songs of former days | You songs -- of former days

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by Florentine Gebhardt (1865 - 1941)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Lieder ihr vergangner Tage

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Lieder ihr -- vergangner Tage,
Schaut aufs neue euch mein Blick?
Tote Lust, verstummte Klage
Wollt ihr rufen mir zurück.

Fremd, wie längst verklungne Sage
Tönt es mir aus eurem Klang,
Daß mein Herz mit heißerm Schlage
Einst in Qual und Sehnsucht rang;

Dies mein Herz, das müd' und zage
Heut nur im verschwiegnen Traum
Nach dem Glück die bange Frage
Wagt zu wiederholen kaum --

Lieder ihr -- vergangner Tage:
Mahnt umsonst mit stillem Blick,
Tote Lust, verstummte Klage
Nimmer ruft ihr sie zurück! --

Confirmed with Florentine Gebhardt, Mein Leben. Gesammelte Gedichte, 1. Auflage, Magdeburg: R. Zacharias, [1906], page 223.

Text Authorship:

by Florentine Gebhardt (1865 - 1941), "Lieder ihr vergangner Tage" [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 Ekkehard Reuter , "Lieder ihr vergangner Tage", published 1896 [ medium voice and piano ], from Drei Lieder für eine mittlere Singstimme mit Pianoforte, no. 3, Berlin: Sulzbach [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "You songs of former days", copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2021-02-12
Line count: 16
Word count: 82

You songs of former days

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

You songs -- of former days,
Do my eyes see you anew?
Dead joy, laments that have fallen mute --
You wish to call them back for me.

Strange, like a myth long faded away,
Your sounding tells me
That once, with a more fervent beating,
My heart wrestled in agony and longing;

This my heart that nowadays, weary and apprehensive,
Hardly dares to repeat,
[And] only in a secret dream,
The anxious query about happiness --

You songs -- of former days:
With a quiet gaze you remind [me] in vain;
Dead joy, laments that have fallen mute --
You can never call them back [for me]! --

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 Florentine Gebhardt (1865 - 1941), "Lieder ihr vergangner Tage"
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2021-02-12
Line count: 16
Word count: 103