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Es zieht sich eine [blutige]1 Spur Durch unser Haus von alters, Meine Mutter war seine Buhle nur, Die schöne Lucy Walters. Am Abend war's, leis wogte das Korn Sie küssten sich unter der Linde, Eine Lerche klang und ein Jägerhorn -- Ich bin ein Kind der Sünde. Meine Mutter hat mir oft erzählt Von jenes Abends Sonne, Ihre Lippen sagten: Ich habe gefehlt! Ihre Augen lachten vor Wonne. Ein Kind der Sünde, ein Stuartkind, Es [blitzt]2 wie Beil von Weiten: Den Weg, den alle geschritten sind, Ich werd' ihn auch beschreiten. Das Leben geliebt und die Krone geküßt Und den Frauen das Herz gegeben Und den letzten Kuß auf das schwarze Gerüst -- Das ist ein Stuart-Leben !
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotes1 Busoni: "blut'ge"
2 Busoni: "glänzt"
Text Authorship:
- by Theodor Fontane (1819 - 1898), "Lied des James Monmouth", appears in Gedichte, in Bilder und Balladen, in Englisch-Schottisches [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 Ferruccio Busoni (1866 - 1924), "Lied des Monmouth", op. 24 (Zwei Lieder) no. 1 (1879) [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (John H. Campbell) , "Song of Monmouth", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Complainte de James Monmouth", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: John H. Campbell
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 117
For ages it seems a bloody track has been drawn through this house my mother was its only lover, the beautiful Lucy Walters. It was evening, the wheat wav'd in the breeze they kissed beneath the linden a lark called and a hunter's-horn. I am a child of sin. My mother has often told me of that evening's sun, its lips said: "I have fallen." Its eyes laughed at the bliss. A child of the sin, a Stuart-child, shines like a hatchet from afar. The way, that all have stridden, I will also walk. The life loved and the crown kissed and the women the heart given and the last kiss on the black framework thus is the life of a Stuart!
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by John H. Campbell, (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.
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Theodor Fontane (1819 - 1898), "Lied des James Monmouth", appears in Gedichte, in Bilder und Balladen, in Englisch-Schottisches
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 123