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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Translation by Albert Ernest Flemming

Einmal wenn ich dich verlier
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Einmal wenn ich dich verlier,
wirst du schlafen können, ohne
dass ich wie eine Lindenkrone
mich verflüstre über dir?

Ohne dass ich hier wache und
Worte, beinah wie Augenlider,
auf deine Brüste, auf deine Glieder
niederlege, auf deinen Mund.

Ohne dass ich dich verschließ
und dich allein mit Deinem lasse
wie einen Garten mit einer Masse
von Melissen und Stern-Anis.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Schlaflied", written 1908, appears in Der neuen Gedichte anderer Teil [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 Kurt Bikkembergs (b. 1963), "Schlaflied", 2009 [ men's chorus ], Schott [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Werner Bitter (b. 1899), "Schlaflied", op. 6 (Vier Lieder) no. 3, published 1929 [ alto or baritone and piano ], Leipzig, Kistner & Siegel [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Michael Brough (b. 1960), "Schlaflied", op. 6 (Vier Lieder und Gesänge) no. 3 (1993) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Werner Richard Heymann (1896 - 1961), "Schlaflied", op. 1 (Drei Lieder) no. 3 [ voice and piano ], Edition Weinberger No 96.; Leipzig : Josef Weinberger  [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Mary (Carlisle) Howe (1882 - 1964), "Schlaflied", 1931 [ voice and piano ], from Four Poems By Rainer Maria Rilke, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Hanno Hussong (b. 1957), "Schlaflied", from Drei Lieder nach Gedichten von Rilke, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Wilhelm Klepper (b. 1924), "Schlaflied", 2000 [ soprano and piano ], from Sechs Lieder, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Aaron Lee , "Schlaflied", 2017 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Léon Orthel (1905 - 1985), "Schlaflied", op. 26 no. 1 (1948?) [ voice and piano ], from Drie liederen, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Hans Heinz Scholtys (1900 - 1945), "Schlaflied" [ voice and piano ], from 94 Lieder, no. 81 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Hans Heinz Scholtys (1900 - 1945), "Schlaflied" [ voice and piano ], from 94 Lieder, no. 82 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Hans Heinz Scholtys (1900 - 1945), "Schlaflied" [ voice and piano ], from 94 Lieder, no. 68 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by François Serrette (1927 - 1999), "Einmal wenn ich dich verlier", 1956 [ voice and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Paul Van Crombruggen , "Schlaflied", 1946 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by James Weeks (b. 1978), "Schlaflied", 2003, first performed 2003 [ mixed chorus ], from Selbstbildnis als Laute, no. 2, New Voices (BMIC/SAM) [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, a translation by James Blair Leishman (1902 - 1963) , no title, copyright © ; composed by Kevin Wood.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in English, a translation by Albert Ernest Flemming , no title ; composed by Martin Watt.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in French (Français), a translation by Lou Albert-Lasard (1885 - 1969) , Paris, Éd. Gallimard, first published 1938 ; composed by Pierre Capdevielle.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
  • Also set in Italian (Italiano), a translation by Vincenzo Errante (1890 - 1951) , "Ninnananna" ; composed by Luigi Cortese.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Vladimir Levansky (1942 - 2010) , copyright © ; composed by Akhmetov Eldar Salavatovich.
    • Go to the text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-09-17
Line count: 12
Word count: 60

Some day, if I should ever lose you
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
Some day, if I should ever lose you,
will you be able then to go [to sleep]1
without me softly whispering above you
like night air stirring in the linden tree?

Without my waking here and watching
and saying words as tender as eyelids
that come to rest weightlessly upon your breast,
upon your sleeping limbs, upon your lips?

Without my touching you and leaving you
alone with what is yours, like a summer garden
that is overflowing with masses
of melissa and star-anise?

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   M. Watt 

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Stefan Berger, Dieter Sicker, Classics in Spectroscopy Isolation and Structure Elucidation of Natural Products, Wiley, 2009, p.618

1 Watt: "asleep"

Text Authorship:

  • by Albert Ernest Flemming , no title [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Schlaflied", written 1908, appears in Der neuen Gedichte anderer Teil
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Martin Watt (b. 1970), "Slumber song" [ voice and baritone ], from Three songs of longing, no. 2, MusicaNeo [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2023-12-02
Line count: 12
Word count: 85

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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