Humanité | L'humanité placée devant des gouffres de feu

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914)

Translation © by Pierre Mathé

Menschheit

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG FRE ITA

Menschheit vor Feuerschlünden aufgestellt,
Ein Trommelwirbel, dunkler Krieger Stirnen,
Schritte durch Blutnebel; schwarzes Eisen schellt,
Verzweiflung, Nacht in traurigen Gehirnen:
Hier Evas Schatten, Jagd und rotes Geld.
Gewölk, das Licht durchbricht, das Abendmahl.
Es wohnt in Brot und Wein ein sanftes Schweigen
Und jene sind versammelt zwölf an Zahl.
Nachts schrein im Schlaf sie unter Ölbaumzweigen;
Sankt Thomas taucht die Hand ins Wundenmal.

Text Authorship:

by Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914), "Menschheit", appears in Gedichte 1909 -1913 [author's text not yet checked 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 Jan Stuten (1890 - 1948), "Menschheit", published 1940 [bass-baritone and piano], from In memoriam Georg Trakl, no. 2. [ sung text verified 1 time]

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

ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , title 1: "Umanità", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , title 1: "Humanité", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Bertram Kottmann) , title 1: "Mankind", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Harry Joelson

This text was added to the website: 2007-07-29
Line count: 10
Word count: 63

Humanité

Language: French (Français) after the German (Deutsch)

L'humanité placée devant des gouffres de feu,
Un roulement de tambour, les sombres fronts des guerriers,
Des pas dans un brouillard de sang ;l'écho du fer noir,
Désespoir, nuit dans les cerveaux tristes :
Ici l'ombre de Eve, chasse et billets rouges.
Des nuages que la lumière transperce, la cène.
Un paisible silence habite le pain et le vin
Et ceux là sont rassemblés par douze.
La nuit ils crient dans leur sommeil sous les rameaux d'olivier ;
Saint Thomas plonge sa main dans leur blessure.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to French (Français) copyright © 2010 by Pierre Mathé, (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 Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914), "Menschheit", appears in Gedichte 1909 -1913
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2010-05-29
Line count: 10
Word count: 84