LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,103)
  • Text Authors (19,447)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

×

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 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
Translation © by Emily Ezust

Die heiligen drei König mit ihrem Stern
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  CAT ENG FRE ITA
Die heiligen drei König mit ihrem Stern,
Sie essen, sie trinken, und bezahlen nicht gern;
Sie essen gern, sie trinken gern,
Sie essen, trinken und bezahlen nicht gern.

Die heiligen drei König sind kommen allhier,
Es sind ihrer drei und sind nicht ihrer vier:
Und wenn zu dreien der vierte wär,
So wär ein heilger Drei König mehr.

Ich erster bin der weiß und auch der schön,
Bei Tage solltet ihr erst mich sehn!
Doch ach, mit allen Spezerein
Werd ich sein Tag kein Mädchen [mir erfrein]1.

Ich aber bin der braun und bin der lang,
Bekannt bei Weibern wohl und bei Gesang.
Ich bringe Gold statt Spezerein,
Da werd ich überall willkommen sein.

Ich endlich bin der schwarz und bin der klein,
Und mag auch wohl einmal recht lustig sein.
Ich esse gern, ich trinke gern,
Ich esse, trinke und bedanke mich gern.

Die heiligen drei König sind wohlgesinnt,
Sie suchen die Mutter und das Kind;
Der Joseph fromm sitzt auch dabei, 
Der Ochs und Esel liegen auf der Streu.

Wir bringen Myrrhen, wir bringen Gold,
Dem Weihrauch sind die Damen hold;
Und haben wir Wein von gutem Gewächs,
So trinken wir drei so gut als ihrer sechs.

Da wir nun hier schöne Herrn und Fraun,
Aber keine Ochsen und Esel schaun,
So sind wir nicht am rechten Ort
Und ziehen [unseres]2 Weges weiter fort.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   B. Dieren 

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
1 van Dieren: "mehr erfreu'n"
2 van Dieren: "uns'res"

Text Authorship:

  • by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), "Epiphanias", written 1781 [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 Bernard van Dieren (1887 - 1936), "Epiphanias: Eine spasshafte Weinachtsimprovisisation zu Goethe's Gedicht", 1914, published 1927 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Ernst Pepping (1901 - 1981), "Epiphaniasfest", 1946, published 1949 [ voice and piano ], from Haus- und Trostbuch, no. 17 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Hugo Wolf (1860 - 1903), "Epiphanias", 1888, published 1891 [ voice and piano ], from Goethe-Lieder, no. 19, Mainz, Schott [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Karl Friedrich Zelter (1758 - 1832), "Epiphanias", 1810? [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "The Three Holy Kings with their star", copyright ©
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Épiphanie", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Epifania", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 229

The Three Holy Kings with their star
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
The Three Holy Kings with their star,
they eat, they drink, and do not like to pay;
they like to eat, they like to drink,
they eat, they drink, and do not like to pay.

The Three Holy Kings are come,
there are three of them, not four:
and if to the three one added a fourth,
that would be one Three Holy King more.

"I am the first, white-haired and also handsome,
you should only see me by day!
but ah, with all these spices
I'll never win a maiden."

"I, however, am the brown-haired one and I am tall,
known well to Woman and Song.
I bring gold instead of spices,
and therefore I will be entirely welcome."

"And at last there's me, black and small,
and I'd like to have a good time as well.
I like to eat, I like to drink;
I gladly eat and drink and say thank you."

The Three Holy Kings are kindly.
They seek the Mother and the Child;
Pious Joseph is also sitting there,
and the ox and the donkey are lying upon the straw.

"We bring myrrh, we bring gold,
and the ladies will look kindly on this frankincense;
and when we have wine from good sources,
we drink, we three, as well as six can!

But here there are fine gentlemen and ladies,
and no oxen and donkeys to be seen;
so we are clearly not in the right place.
We shall continue on our way."

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust

    Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:

    Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
    from the LiederNet Archive

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.
    licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), "Epiphanias", written 1781
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 248

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

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris