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Six Hölderlin fragments
Translations © by Emily Ezust
Song Cycle by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976)
View original-language texts alone: Sechs Hölderlin-Fragmente
Ist nicht heilig mein Herz, schöneren Lebens voll, Seit ich liebe? Warum achtetet ihr mich mehr, Da ich stolzer und wilder, Wortereicher und leerer war? Ach! der Menge gefällt, was auf den Markplatz taugt, Und es ehret der Knecht nur den Gewaltsamen; An das Göttliche glauben Die allein, die es selber sind.
Authorship:
- by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843), "Menschenbeifall"
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , no title, copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , no title, copyright ©
- ENG English [singable] (Walter A. Aue) , "Public's applause", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Stéphane Goldet) (Pierre de Rosamel) , no title, copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Is my heart not sacred, full of finer life, now that I love? Why did you regard me more when I was prouder and more truculent, when I was more wordy and more vain? Ah, only what is good for the marketplace can please people; the servant respects only an oppressive master. To believe in the divine one must be divine in one's own right.
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 -- https://www.lieder.net/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 Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843), "Menschenbeifall"
Go to the single-text view
Translation of title "Menschenbeifall" = "The approval of others"This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 65
Froh kehrt der Schiffer heim an den stillen [Strom]1 Von fernen Inseln, wo er geerntet hat; Wohl [möcht' auch ich]2 zur Heimat wieder; Aber was hab' ich, wie Leid, geerntet? - Ihr holden Ufer, die ihr mich auferzogt, [Stillt ihr der Liebe Leiden? ach!]3 gebt ihr mir, Ihr Wälder meiner Kindheit, wann ich [Komme]4, die Ruhe noch Einmal wieder?
Authorship:
- by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843), "Die Heimat"
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Terra natal", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Home", copyright ©
- FRE French (Français) (Stéphane Goldet) (Pierre de Rosamel) , "Le pays natal", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Confirmed with Friedrich Hölderlin Sämtliche Gedichte und Hyperion, Frankfurt am Main und Leipzig: Insel Verlag, 1999, page 200
Note (provided by Sharon Krebs): Hölderlin published two versions of this poem - this one with two stanzas and a longer one with six stanzas. Only the first two lines are the same.
1 Eisler: "Strome"2 Eisler: "möchte ich gern"
3 Eisler: "Ach!"
4 Eisler: "wiederkehre".
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
The boatman turns homeward on the mute river from distant islands, where he has been gathering his harvest; gladly would I also turn toward home now; but what have I gathered except sorrow? You lovely banks that brought me up, can you still love's grief? ah, can you give me, when I come to you woods of my childhood, can you give me that peace once again?
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 -- https://www.lieder.net/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 Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843), "Die Heimat"
Go to the single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 68
"Warum huldigest du, heiliger Sokrates, Diesem Jünglinge stets? [Kennest]1 du Größers nicht, Warum siehet mit Liebe, Wie auf Götter, dein Aug' auf ihn?" Wer das Tiefste gedacht, liebt das Lebendigste, Hohe Tugend versteht, wer in die Welt geblickt, Und es neigen die Weisen Oft am Ende zu Schönem sich.
Authorship:
- by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843), "Sokrates und Alcibiades", appears in Gedichte 1784-1800
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Sòcrates i Alcibíades", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Socrates and Alcibiades", copyright ©
- FRE French (Français) (Stéphane Goldet) (Pierre de Rosamel) , "Socrate et Alcibiade ", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Britten: "Kennst"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
"Why, holy Socrates, do you court This youth all the time? Don't you know of anything greater? Why do your eyes gaze on him with love, as if you were looking at the gods?" He who has pondered the most profound thoughts, loves what is most alive; He who has seen the world understands lofty virtue. And in the end, the wise will often Bend toward that which is beautiful.
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 -- https://www.lieder.net/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 Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843), "Sokrates und Alcibiades", appears in Gedichte 1784-1800
Go to the single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 70
Da ich ein Knabe war,
rettet' ein Gott mich oft
vom Geschrei und der Rufe der Menschen,
da spielt' ich sicher und gut
mit den Blumen des Hains,
und die Lüftchen des Himmels
spielten mit mir.
Und wie du das Herz
der Planzen erfreust,
wenn sie entgegen dir
die zarten Arme strecken,
so hast du mein Herz erfreut,
Vater Helios!
und, wie Endymion,
war ich dein Liebling,
heilige Luna!
O all ihr Treuen
freundlichen Götter!
Daß ihr wüßtet,
wie euch meine Seele geliebt!
[ ... ]
Doch kannt' ich euch besser,
Als ich je die Menschen gekannt
Ich verstand die Stille des Aethers
Der Menschen Worte verstand ich nie.
Mich erzog der Wohllaut
des säuselnden Hains,
und lieben lernt' ich
unter den Blumen.
Im Arme der Götter wuchs ich groß.
Authorship:
- by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843), "Da ich ein Knabe war", appears in Gedichte 1784-1800
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "La joventut", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "The youth", copyright ©
- FRE French (Français) (Stéphane Goldet) (Pierre de Rosamel) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
When I was a boy
a god would often rescue me
from the screams and shouts of men;
there I would play, secure and good,
with the flowers of the grove,
and the breezes of the sky
would play with me.
And as you cheer the hearts
of plants
when toward you
they reach their tender arms,
so did you gladden my heart,
Father Helios!
and, like Endymion,
I was your beloved,
sacred Luna!
O all you constant,
amiable gods!
Would that you knew
how my soul loved you!
[ ... ]
But I knew you better
than I ever knew any man;
I understood the silence of the Ether,
but the words of mankind I never understood.
I was brought up by the pleasind sound
of the rustling grove,
and I learned to love
beneath the flowers.
In the arms of the gods I became a man.
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 -- https://www.lieder.net/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 Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843), "Da ich ein Knabe war", appears in Gedichte 1784-1800
Go to the single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 33
Word count: 172
Mit gelben Birnen hänget Und voll mit wilden Rosen Das Land in den See, Ihr holden Schwäne, Und trunken von Küssen [Tunkt]1 [ihr das Haupt Ins heilignüchterne Wasser.]2 Weh mir, wo nehm' ich, wenn Es Winter ist, die Blumen, und wo Den Sonnenschein, Und Schatten der Erde? Die Mauern [stehn]3 Sprachlos und kalt, im Winde Klirren die Fahnen.
Authorship:
- by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843), "Hälfte des Lebens", appears in Gedichte 1800-1804, in Nachtgesänge
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "La meitat de la vida", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "The middle of life", copyright ©
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Le milieu de la vie", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Stéphane Goldet) (Pierre de Rosamel) , "Mi-temps de la vie", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- IRI Irish (Gaelic) [singable] (Gabriel Rosenstock) , "Leath an tSaoil", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Müller: "Taucht"; omitted by Ligeti
2 omitted by Ligeti
3 Cerha: "stehen"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
With yellow pears and full of wild roses, the land hangs over the lake, you fair swans, and drunk with kisses you dunk your heads into the sacred, sober water. Woe is me! where, when it is winter, will I get flowers, and where the sunshine, and the shade of the earth? The walls stand mute and cold; in the wind the weathervanes rattle.
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 -- https://www.lieder.net/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 Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843), "Hälfte des Lebens", appears in Gedichte 1800-1804, in Nachtgesänge
Go to the single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 64
Die Linien des Lebens sind verschieden, Wie Wege sind, und wie der Berge Grenzen. Was hier wir sind, kann dort ein Gott ergänzen Mit Harmonien und ewigen Lohn und Frieden.
Authorship:
- by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843), no title
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Les línies de la vida", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , no title, copyright ©
- ENG English [singable] (Walter A. Aue) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Les lignes de la vie", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Stéphane Goldet) (Pierre de Rosamel) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
The lines of life are varied, as are roads, and as are the boundaries of mountains. Whatever we are here, a god can complement there with harmony and perpetual reward and peace.
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 -- https://www.lieder.net/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 Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843), no title
Go to the single-text view
Translation of title "Die Linien des Lebens" = "The lines of life"This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 4
Word count: 33