Was hör' ich draußen vor dem Thor,
Was auf der Brücke schallen?
[Laß]1 den Gesang vor unserm Ohr
Im Saale wiederhallen!
Der König sprachs, der Page lief;
Der [Knabe]2 kam, der König rief:
Laßt mir herein den Alten!

Gegrüßet seyd mir, edle Herrn,
Gegrüßt [ihr, schöne]3 Damen!
Welch reicher Himmel! Stern bei Stern!
Wer kennet ihre Namen?
Im Saal voll Pracht und Herrlichkeit
Schließt, Augen, euch; hier ist nicht Zeit,
Sich staunend zu [ergetzen]4.

Der Sänger drückt' die Augen ein,
Und schlug in vollen Tönen;
Die Ritter schauten muthig drein,
Und in den Schoos die Schönen.
Der König, dem [das Lied gefiel]5,
Ließ, ihn zu ehren für sein Spiel,
Eine goldne Kette [holen]6.

Die goldne Kette gib mir nicht,
Die Kette gib den Rittern,
Vor deren kühnem Angesicht
Der Feinde Lanzen splittern;
Gib sie dem Kanzler, den du hast,
Und laß ihn noch die goldne Last
Zu andern Lasten tragen.

Ich singe, wie der Vogel singt,
Der in den Zweigen wohnet;
Das Lied, das aus der Kehle dringt,
Ist Lohn, der reichlich lohnet.
Doch darf ich bitten, bitt' ich eins:
Laß mir den besten Becher Weins
In purem Golde reichen.

Er setzt' ihn an, er trank ihn aus:
O Trank voll süßer Labe!
O wohl dem hochbeglückten Haus,
Wo das ist kleine Gabe!
Ergeht's euch wohl, so denkt an mich,
Und danket Gott so warm, als ich
Für diesen Trunk euch danke.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Goethe's Werke, Vollständige Ausgabe letzter Hand, Erster Band, Stuttgart und Tübingen, in der J.G.Cottaschen Buchhandlung, 1827, pages 178-179; and with Göthe's neue Schriften. Siebenter Band. Berlin. Bei Johann Friedrich Unger. 1800, pages 39-41.

A variant of this poem is incorporated in Goethe's novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, see below. The poem appears there in Book 2, Chapter 11.

¹ Loewe: "Laßt"
² Goethe (editions until 1821), and Schubert: "Page"
³ Goethe (Berlin 1800 edition), and Schubert: "ihr schönen"
⁴ Goethe (editions until 1810), and Schubert: "ergötzen"
⁵ Goethe (editions until 1821), and Schubert, Zelter: "es wohlgefiel"
⁶ Goethe (1827 edition, probably misprint), and Loewe, Wolf: "reichen"

Text Authorship:

• by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), "Der Sänger", written 1783, first published 1795 [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 Victor Emanuel Bendix (1851 - 1926), "Der Sänger", published 1912 [ voice and piano ], from 5 deutsche Gesänge, no. 1, Leipzig/Copenhagen/Kristiania, Breitkopf & Härtel/Skandinavisk Musikforlag/Olof Bys Musikforlag, pp.2-9 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Andreas Peter Berggreen (1801 - 1880), "Der Sänger", published 1872, in Gedichte von Göthe, Kopenhagen, Reitzel, pp. 20f. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Zdenko Antonín Václav Fibich (1850 - 1900), "Des Harfners Ballade", alternate title: "Der Sänger", H. 134 no. 7 (1871), published 1893, first performed 1914, from Aus Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahren, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Christian Wilhelm Heydenreich , "Der Sänger" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Conradin Kreutzer (1780 - 1849), "Der Sänger", KWV. 9130 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Adolf Fredrik Lindblad (1801 - 1878), "Der Sänger", 1824 [ voice and piano ], from Sånger och Visor vid Pianoforte. 1:sta delen, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Carl Loewe (1796 - 1869), "Der Sänger", op. 59 no. 2 (1836) [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Émile Louis Victor Mathieu (1844 - 1932), "Der Sänger" [ voice and piano ], from Six Ballades de Goethe (Deuxième Suite), no. 1, Bruxelles: Schott Frères, also set in French (Français) [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752 - 1814), "Der Sänger", published 1795-6 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Christian Schreiber (1781 - 1857), "Der Harfner", published 1804 [ voice and piano ], from Sechzehn Lieder von Göthe, Mahlmann, Matthesius, A. W. Schlegel, C. Schreiber u. a. mit Begleitung des Pianoforte von C. Schreiber, no. 6, Leipzig: Bei Breitkopf und Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
• by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Der Sänger", op. posth. 117, D 149 (1815), published 1829 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Hugo Wolf (1860 - 1903), "Der Sänger", 1888-9, published 1891 [ voice and piano ], from Goethe-Lieder, no. 10, Mainz, Schott [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Karl Friedrich Zelter (1758 - 1832), "Der Sänger" [sung text checked 1 time]

Set in a modified version by Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein, Robert Schumann.

• Go to the text. [ view differences ]
  

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in French (Français), a translation by Jules Abrassart (1826 - 1893) ; composed by Émile Louis Victor Mathieu.
  • Go to the text.
    

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• CZE Czech (Čeština) (Karel Dostál-Lutinov) , "Pěvec", first published 1917
• DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "De zanger", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "What do I hear outside the gate", copyright ©
• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Qu'entends-je dehors devant le portail", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GRE Greek (Ελληνικά) [singable] (Christakis Poumbouris) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Amelia Maria Imbarrato) , "Il cantore", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 42
Word count: 241

 "What do I hear outside the gate -
 what are those sounds on the bridge?
 Let the song for our ears
 echo in the hall!"
 So the king said, and the page ran off.
 The page soon returned and the king cried:
 "Let in the old man!"
 
 "Greetings, noble lords,
 greetings fair ladies!
 What a rich heaven! Star upon star!
 Who knows their names?
 In this hall full of splendor and magnificence,
 close, you my eyes; here there is no time
 to marvel with astonishment."
 
 The singer closed his eyes
 and played with full tones:
 the knights watched bravely
 and the ladies gazed down into their laps.
 The king, whom the song well pleased,
 decided to reward him for his song
 and sent for a golden chain.
 
 "This golden chain - give it not to me;
 give this golden chain to your knights,
 before whose bold faces
 the enemy lances splinter.
 Give it to the chancellor you have,
 and let him then bear this golden burden
 with all his other burdens.
 
 "I sing as does the bird
 that lives in the branches;
 this song that bursts from my throat
 is a reward - its own rich reward.
 But if I may, I would ask one thing:
 give me your best wine
 in a goblet of pure gold."
 
 It was set before him and he drained the cup:
 "O libation full of sweet refreshment!
 O, happy is the well-favored house
 in which this is considered a small gift!
 If you enjoy yourselves well, think of me
 and thank God as warmly as I
 thank you for this drink."