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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)

Das Lied des Aussätzigen
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  FRE
Sieh, ich bin einer, den alles verlassen hat.
Keiner weiß in der Stadt von mir,
Aussatz hat mich befallen.
Und ich schlage mein Klapperwerk,
klopfe mein trauriges Augenmerk
in die Ohren allen,
die nahe vorübergehn.
Und die es hölzern hören, sehn
erst gar nicht her, und was hier geschehn,
wollen sie nicht erfahren.
 
Soweit der Klang meiner Klapper reicht,
bin ich zuhause; aber vielleicht
machst du meine Klapper so laut,
daß sich keiner in meine Ferne traut,
der mir jetzt aus der Nähe weicht.
So daß ich sehr lange gehen kann,
ohne Mädchen, Frau oder Mann
oder Kind zu entdecken.
 
Tiere will ich nicht schrecken.

Confirmed with Das Buch der Bilder von Rainer Maria Rilke, Leipzig, Iminsel-Verlag, 1920, page 142.


Text Authorship:

  • by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Das Lied des Aussätzigen", appears in Das Buch der Bilder, in Die Stimmen: Neun Blätter mit einem Titelblatt, no. 10, first published 1906 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Antal Doráti (1906 - 1988), "Das Lied des Aussätzigen", 1975, orchestrated 1978 [ bass and piano or orchestra ], from Die Stimmen, no. 10 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Karl Heinz Höne (1924 - 2008), "Das Lied des Aussätzigen" [ 4 soli and piano ], from Die Stimmen, no. 8 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Hans Huyssen (b. 1964), "Das Lied des Aussätzigen", 1992, first performed 1998 [ baritone and guitar ], from Die Stimmen, no. 6, Unveröffentliches Manuskript [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, a translation by Albert Ernest Flemming , "Song of the leper", appears in Rainer Maria Rilke: Selected Poems, first published 1986, copyright © ; composed by Stephen Paulus.
    • Go to the text.

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

  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "La chanson du lépreux", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2012-06-10
Line count: 19
Word count: 105

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