LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,111)
  • Text Authors (19,487)
  • 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 Pierre Mathé

Leichte Silberwolken schweben
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  FRE
Leichte Silberwolken schweben
Durch die erst erwärmten Lüfte,
Mild, von Schimmer sanft umgeben,
Blickt die Sonne durch die Düfte.

Leise wallt und drängt die Welle
Sich am reichen Ufer hin;
Und wie reingewaschen helle,
Schwankend hin und her und hin,
Spiegelt sich das junge Grün.

[Still ist Luft und Lüftchen stille;
Was bewegt mir das Gezweige?
Schwüle Liebe dieser Fülle,
Von den Bäumen durchs Gesträuche.

Nun der Blick auf einmal helle,
Sieh! der Bübchen Flatterschar,
Das bewegt und regt so schnelle,
Wie der Morgen sie gebar,
Flügelhaft sich Paar und Paar.

Fangen an, das Dach zu flechten -
Wer bedürfte dieser Hütte? -
Und wie Zimmrer, die gerechten,
Bank und Tischchen in der Mitte!

Und so bin ich noch verwundert,
Sonne sinkt, ich fühl es kaum;
Und nun führen aberhundert
Mir das Liebchen in den Raum,
Tag und Abend, welch ein Traum!]1

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
1 omitted by Gál.

Text Authorship:

  • by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), "Mai", appears in Goethe's Werke. Vollständige Ausgabe, letzter Hand, Band III, in 1. Lyrisches [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 Fanny Hensel (1805 - 1847), "Mai", 1836 [ duet for soprano and alto with piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Adolph Bernhard Marx (1795 - 1866), "Der 15. Mai", op. 2 no. 9, published 1830 [ voice and piano ], from Zwölf Gesänge, no. 9, Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Arnold Mendelssohn (1855 - 1933), "Mai", published 1910 [sung text not yet checked]

The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:
  • by Hans Gál (1890 - 1987), "Natur", op. 70 no. 4 (1955), published 1956, first performed 1956 [ SATB soli, mixed chorus (boys, SATB), and orchestra ], from Lebenskreise, no. 4, Alkor Edition, Kassel
    • View the full text. [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [an adaptation] ; composed by Edward Alexander MacDowell.
    • Go to the text.

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

  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Mai", copyright © 2012, (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: 27
Word count: 141

Mai
Language: French (Français)  after the German (Deutsch) 
De légers nuages d'argent planent 
Dans les airs tout juste réchauffés, 
Clément, entouré d'un doux éclat, 
Le soleil se montre dans les parfums. 

La vague ondoie doucement
Et déborde sur la rive fertile; 
Et claire, comme immaculée , 
Se balançant ici , et çà et là 
La verdure nouvelle s'y mire. 

L'air est immobile et les zéphirs calmes; 
Qui fait bouger les branchages? 
L'oppressant amour de cette profusion, 
Des arbres jusqu'aux buisson. 

Tout à coup la vue s'éclaircit.
Vois ! La troupe ailée des petits
Qui si vite s'éveillent et s'agitent,
Quand le matin les enfante,
Et s'envolent deux par deux.

Ils commencent à tresser leur toit --
Qui avait besoin de cette cabane ? --
Et comme pour une chambre, ils installent
Banc et table dans le milieu !

Et je suis encore si émerveillé
Que je sens à peine le soleil se coucher ;
Et maintenant par centaines il conduisent
Ma bien-aimée vers moi à travers l'espace,
Jour et nuit, quel rêve !

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to French (Français) copyright © 2012 by Pierre Mathé, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
    Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), "Mai", appears in Goethe's Werke. Vollständige Ausgabe, letzter Hand, Band III, in 1. Lyrisches
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2012-02-03
Line count: 27
Word count: 158

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