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by Richard Fedor Leopold Dehmel (1863 - 1920)
Translation © by Ferdinando Albeggiani

Verklärte Nacht
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG FRE ITA
Zwei Menschen gehn durch kahlen, kalten Hain;
der Mond läuft mit, sie schaun hinein.
Der Mond läuft über hohe Eichen,
kein Wölkchen trübt das Himmelslicht,
in das die schwarzen Zacken reichen.
Die Stimme eines Weibes spricht:

Ich trag ein Kind, und nit von dir,
ich geh in Sünde neben dir.
Ich hab mich schwer an mir vergangen;
ich glaubte nicht mehr an ein Glück
und hatte doch ein schwer Verlangen
nach [Lebensfrucht]1, nach Mutterglück
und Pflicht – da hab ich mich erfrecht,
da ließ ich schaudernd mein Geschlecht
von einem fremden Mann umfangen
und hab mich noch dafür gesegnet.
Nun hat das Leben sich gerächt,
nun bin ich dir, o dir begegnet.

Sie geht mit ungelenkem Schritt,
sie schaut empor, der Mond läuft mit;
ihr dunkler Blick ertrinkt in Licht.
Die Stimme eines Mannes spricht:

Das Kind, das du empfangen hast,
sei deiner Seele keine Last,
o sieh, wie klar das Weltall schimmert!
Es ist ein Glanz um Alles her,
du treibst mit mir auf kaltem Meer,
doch eine eigne Wärme flimmert
von dir in mich, von mir in dich;
die wird das fremde Kind verklären,
du wirst es mir, von mir gebären,
du hast den Glanz in mich gebracht,
du hast mich selbst zum Kind gemacht.

Er faßt sie um die starken Hüften,
ihr Atem [mischt]2 sich in den Lüften,
zwei Menschen gehn durch hohe, helle Nacht.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   A. Schoenberg 

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Richard Dehmel, Weib und Welt, Verlag von Schuster u. Loeffler, Berlin, 1896, p. 49.

1 Schoenberg: "Lebensinhalt"
2 Schoenberg: "küsst"

Text Authorship:

  • by Richard Fedor Leopold Dehmel (1863 - 1920), "Verklärte Nacht", appears in Weib und Welt [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 Oskar Fried (1871 - 1941), "Verklärte Nacht", op. 9 (1901) [ mezzo-soprano, tenor, and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Arnold Franz Walter Schoenberg (1874 - 1951), "Verklärte Nacht", op. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (Michael P Rosewall) , "Transfigured night", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Nuit transfigurée", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Notte trasfigurata", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Barbara Rufer , Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 36
Word count: 231

Notte trasfigurata
Language: Italian (Italiano)  after the German (Deutsch) 
Due figure avanzano nel bosco freddo e spoglio,
osservano la luna che sembra accompagnarle nel cammino,
procede la luna sopra le alte querce,
non una nuvola turba la luminosità del cielo
dove scure si stagliano le cime dei monti.
Una voce di donna pronuncia queste parole:

"Io porto un bimbo in grembo, che non è figlio tuo,
io ti cammino al fianco nel peccato.
Ho recato una grave offesa a me stessa.
Non speravo più in una qualche felicità
e tuttavia desideravo ardentemente
una pienezza di vita,la felicità di attendere
ai doveri di una madre; e perciò ho avuto l'audacia
di offrire, con un brivido, il mio sesso
all'amplesso di uno sconosciuto,
e per questo mi sono sentita benedetta.
Ora la vita ha preso la sua vendetta:
e io ho incontrato te, proprio te."

Lei incede con passo incerto.
Alza lo sguardo, verso la luna che l' accompagna.
L'ombra, negli occhi di lei, ne beve la luce.
Una voce di uomo pronuncia queste parole:

"Che il bimbo che hai concepito
non ti sia di fardello per l'anima.
Guarda, come tutto l'universo è luminoso!
Lo splendore discende su ogni cosa qui attorno.
Stai viaggiando con me sopra un mare freddo,
eppure un intimo calore passa vibrando
da te a me, da me a te.
Trasfigurerà il bimbo di un altro,
e tu lo partorirai per me, come mio figlio.
In me tu hai fatto penetrare lo splendore del mondo,
per merito tuo ritorno bambino."

Poi lui cinge con un abbraccio i fianchi appesantiti di lei.
I loro respiri si fondono in un bacio, nell'aria.
Due figure procedono nella notte vasta e chiara.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2010 by Ferdinando Albeggiani, (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 Richard Fedor Leopold Dehmel (1863 - 1920), "Verklärte Nacht", appears in Weib und Welt
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2010-04-02
Line count: 36
Word count: 271

Gentle Reminder

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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