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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Translation © by Margaret Dows Herter Norton (1894 - 1985)

Reiten, reiten, reiten
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG FRE
Reiten, reiten, reiten, 
durch den Tag, durch die Nacht, durch den Tag.
Reiten, reiten, reiten. 
Und der Mut ist so müde geworden
und die Sehnsucht so groß. Es gibt keine Berge mehr,
kaum einen Baum. Nichts wagt aufzustehen.
Fremde Hütten hocken durstig an versumpften Brunnen.
Nirgends ein Turm. Und immer das gleiche Bild. 
Man hat zwei Augen zuviel. [Nur in der Nacht
manchmal glaubt man den Weg zu kennen.
Vielleicht kehren wir nächtens immer wieder
das Stück zurück, das wir in der fremden Sonne 
mühsam gewonnen haben? Es kann sein. ]1
Die Sonne ist schwer, wie bei uns tief im Sommer. 
Aber wir haben im Sommer Abschied genommen. 
Die Kleider der Frauen leuchteten lang aus dem Grün. 
Und nun reiten wir lang. Es muß also Herbst sein.
Wenigstens dort, wo traurige Frauen von uns wissen.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   H. Reutter 

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Rainer Maria Rilke, Werke. Kommentiere Ausgabe in vier Bänden, herausgegeben von Manfred Engel, Ulrich Fülleborn, Horst Nalewski, August Stahl, Band I Gedichte 1895 bis 1910, herausgegeben von Manfred Engel und Ulrich Fülleborn, Frankfurt am Main: Insel Verlag, 1996, page 141.

1 omitted by Reutter

Text Authorship:

  • by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, written 1899, appears in Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, no. 1, first published 1906 [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 Paul von Klenau (1883 - 1946), "Reiten, reiten, reiten, durch den Tag" [ voices and orchestra ], from Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Kornetts Christoph Rilke, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Ton de Leeuw (1926 - 1996), "Reiten, Reiten", 1948, copyright © 1948 [ high voice and piano ], from Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, no. 1, Amsterdam : Donemus [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Frank Martin (1890 - 1974), "Reiten...", 1942 [ alto and chamber orchestra ], from Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Casimir von Pászthory (1886 - 1966), "Reiten, reiten, reiten", 1914, first performed 1914 [ reciter and piano ], from Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, no. 2, Leipzig: Fr. Kistner & C.F.W. Siegel, 1919 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Hermann Reutter (1900 - 1985), "Reiten, reiten, reiten", op. 31 no. 1, published 1947 [ medium voice and piano ], from Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, no. 1, Mainz: B. Schott's Söhne, London: Schott & Co. Ltd. [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Richard Sturzenegger (1905 - 1976), "Präludium" [ speaker and orchestra ], from Melodramas (Fragments), no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Viktor Ullmann (1898 - 1944), "Reiten, reiten, reiten", 1944 [ reciter and piano ], from Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, Erster Teil, no. 2, Mainz: Schott Music GmbH & Co., 1995 [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, a translation by Margaret Dows Herter Norton (1894 - 1985) , no title, appears in The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke, no. 1, copyright © ; composed by Lisa Bielawa.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in Italian (Italiano), a translation by Marco Zapparoli (b. 1960) , appears in L’Alfieri, copyright © ; composed by Hans Ludwig Hirsch.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
  • Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Vladimir Matveyevich Letuchy (1943 - 2015) , copyright © ; composed by Vladislav Mikhailovich Lebedev.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]

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

  • ENG English (Knut W. Barde) , "Riding", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Chevaucher, chevaucher, chevaucher, le jour", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: John Versmoren , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 136

Riding, riding, riding
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
Riding, riding, riding
 [ ... ]

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   L. Bielawa 

L. Bielawa sets lines 1-10

About the headline (FAQ)

This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.

Confirmed with M. D. Herter Norton, The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke, W. W. Norton & Company, 1963. Note: this is a prose text with arbitrary line-breaks added.


Text Authorship:

  • by Margaret Dows Herter Norton (1894 - 1985), no title, appears in The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke, no. 1, copyright © [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, written 1899, appears in Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, no. 1, first published 1906
    • 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 Lisa Bielawa (b. 1968), "Riding", first performed 2006, lines 1-10 [ baritone and piano ], from The Lay of the Love and Death, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in Italian (Italiano), a translation by Marco Zapparoli (b. 1960) , appears in L’Alfieri, copyright © ; composed by Hans Ludwig Hirsch.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
  • Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Vladimir Matveyevich Letuchy (1943 - 2015) , copyright © ; composed by Vladislav Mikhailovich Lebedev.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]

This text was added to the website: 2023-11-04
Line count: 18
Word count: 135

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