O wär' mein Lieb' jen' Röslein roth 
Dort an dem alten Burgverließ, 
und o wär ich ein Tröpflein Thau, 
und fiel ihm die Brüst so süß! 

O Wonnemeer, in dem ich schwelg', 
An seinem Reiz ich selig hing, 
Die ganze Nacht in seinem Kelch 
Bis ich im Morgenstrahl verging.

About the headline (FAQ)

Note: due to a similarity in first lines, this text is often erroneously indicated to be a (very loose) translation of Burns' poem O my Luve's like a red, red rose, but this is in fact a translation of the second stanza of "Oh were my love yon lilac fair". For some reason, Kaufmann does not appear to have translated the first stanza; also he divided the stanza he translated into two four-line stanzas.

Authorship

• by (Johann) Philipp Kaufmann (1802 - 1846), no title, appears in Gedichte von Robert Burns, first published 1839 [an adaptation] [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on

• a text in Scottish (Scots) by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "O were my Love yon lilac fair"
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Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

• by Alban Maria Johannes Berg (1885 - 1935), "O wär mein Lieb' jen' Röslein Rot", alternate title: "Wär ich ein Tröpflein Thau", 1906 [ voice and piano ], from Jugendlieder, Vol. II (1904-08), no. 51 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Wilhelm Mayer (1831 - 1898?), "Wär' ich ein Tröpflein Thau" [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from 3 Gesänge, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in French (Français), a translation by Henri-François-Louis-Auguste Potez (b. 1863) ; composed by André Gédalge.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Adolf Wilhelm Ernst von Winterfeld (1824 - 1888) , "O, wär' mein Lieb die Fliederblüth'" ; composed by Otto Bach, Ernst Paul Flügel.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by L. G. Silbergleit , "O wär' mein Lieb" ; composed by Jan Karol Gall, Eugène Jámbor, Rudolf Krzyzanowski.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Ferdinand Freiligrath (1810 - 1876) ; composed by Carl Banck, August Conradi, Wilhelm Heiser, Carl Krebs, Arnold Krug, C. Adolph Oberdörffer, Hans Michael Schletterer, Václav Jan Křtitel Tomášek.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Johann Bernhard André.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Frederick Brandeis.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

Text added to the website: 2011-06-04 00:00:00
Last modified: 2017-10-11 12:39:25
Line count: 8
Word count: 49