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by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856)
Translation © by Emily Ezust

Zu fragmentarisch ist Welt und Leben?
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG ENG FRE
Zu fragmentarisch ist Welt und Leben?
Ich will mich zum deutschen Professor begeben.
Der weiß das Leben zusammenzusetzen,
und er macht ein verständlich System daraus;
mit seinen Nachtmützen und Schlafrockfetzen
stopft er die Lücken des Weltenbaus.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856), no title, appears in Buch der Lieder, in Die Heimkehr, no. 58 [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 David Leonard Blake (b. 1936), "From Die Heimkehr", published 1981 [ high voice and instrumental ensemble (11 instruments) ], from From the mattress grave : a cycle of twelve songs to poems by Heine, no. 8, note: also set in English (translated by Peter Palmer) [sung text not yet checked]
  • by David Leonard Blake (b. 1936), "From Die Heimkehr", published 1985 [ baritone, oboe, and piano ], from Five Heine Songs, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by David Leonard Blake (b. 1936), "From Die Heimkehr", published 1985 [ baritone, oboe, and string quartet ], from Six Heine Songs, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Paul Dessau (1894 - 1979), "Zu fragmentarisch", 1974 [ mezzo-soprano, unaccompanied ], from Drei Lieder für Edda Schaller, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Franz Xaver Gardeweg (b. 1944), "Zu fragmentarisch", 1997 [ medium voice and piano ], from 7 Lieder nach gedichten von H. Heine, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Karl Haine (1830 - 1910), "Zu fragmentarisch ist Welt und Leben", op. 57 (Zwei Lieder) no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Thomas Lauck (b. 1943), "Zu fragmentarisch ist Welt und Leben", 1979-80, published 1980 [ unaccompanied soprano ], from Szenen, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Johann Vesque von Püttlingen (1803 - 1883), "Der deutsche Professor", published 1851, from Die Heimkehr : 88 Gedichte aus H. Heine's Reisebildern, no. 58 [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "The German Professor", copyright ©
  • ENG English (Emma Lazarus) , appears in Poems and Ballads of Heinrich Heine, first published 1881
  • ENG English [singable] (Peter Palmer) , "From Die Heimkehr", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 6
Word count: 36

The German Professor
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
 World and life are too fragmentary?
 I will take myself to the German professor.
 He knows how to put life back together,
 and he will make an intelligible system out of it;
 with his nightcaps and his tattery nightrobe
 he will stop up the openings in the structure of the world.

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 Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856), no title, appears in Buch der Lieder, in Die Heimkehr, no. 58
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 6
Word count: 52

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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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