by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Translation © by Albert Ernest Flemming
Wir sind nur Mund. Wer singt das ferne...
Language: German (Deutsch)
Wir sind nur Mund. Wer singt das ferne Herz, das heil inmitten aller Dinge weilt? Sein großer Schlag ist in uns eingeteilt in kleine Schläge. [Und sein großer Schmerz ist, wie sein großer Jubel, uns zu groß. So reißen wir uns immer wieder los und sind nur Mund.]1 Aber auf einmal bricht der große Herzschlag heimlich in uns ein, so daß wir schrein, -- und sind dann Wesen, Wandlung und Gesicht.
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View original text (without footnotes)1 omitted by Medek.
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Tilo Medek (1940 - 2006), "Wir sind nur Mund. Wer singt das ferne Herz", 1980, copyright © 1982 [ chorus, orchestra ], from cantata Gethsemane, no. 6, Unkel am Rhein : Medek [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Erik Norby (1936 - 2007), "Wir sind nur Mund", 1985 [ mezzo-soprano and orchestra ], from Rilke-Lieder, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Fredrik Österling (b. 1966), "Wir sind nur Mund" [ mixed chorus ], Gehrmans Musikförlag [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Albert Ernest Flemming , "Heartbeat", copyright © ; composed by Andrea Clearfield.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2013-09-03
Line count: 10
Word count: 71
Only mouths are we. Who sings the...
Language: English after the German (Deutsch)
Only mouths are we. Who sings the distant heart [ ... ]
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.Text Authorship:
- by Albert Ernest Flemming , "Heartbeat", copyright © [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Andrea Clearfield (b. 1960), "Aoide", subtitle: "muse of voice and song", 2017, published 2023 [ reciter, 3 percussion ], from Round for three muses, [New York, New York] : Angelfire Press; note: The piece is a cross between a concert work and a performance art piece, where the performers play their instruments and also speak, sing and move. There are possibilities for structured improvisation, staging, visual projection and creative lighting [sung text not yet checked]
This text was added to the website: 2024-03-02
Line count: 10
Word count: 79