Éloquence | Mes amis, l'eau rend bien taciturne

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by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729 - 1781)

Translation © by Charlotte Morel

Freunde, Wasser machet stumm

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: FRE SPA

Freunde, Wasser machet stumm,
lernet dieses an den Fischen,
doch beim Weine kehrt sich's um
dieses lernt an unsern Tischen.

Was für Redner sind wir nicht,
wenn der Rheinwein aus uns spricht
Wir ermahnen, streiten, lehren,
keiner will den andern hören.

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Text Authorship:

by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729 - 1781), "Die Beredsamkeit", appears in Lieder [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 (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809), "Die Beredsamkeit", Hob XXVb no. 4 (1796) [ SATB chorus, piano ], from Ramlers lyrischer blumenlese [sung text checked 1 time]
by (Joseph) Joachim Raff (1822 - 1882), "Die Beredtsamkeit", op. 122 (10 Lieder für Männerchor) no. 4 (1853-63), published 1867 [ men's chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]

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

FRE French (Français) (Charlotte Morel) , "Éloquence", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Elena María Accinelli) , "La elocuencia", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Marieke T. de Heer

This text was added to the website: 2004-11-16
Line count: 8
Word count: 41

Éloquence

Language: French (Français) after the German (Deutsch)

Mes amis, l'eau rend bien taciturne,
Ce que vous apprendront les poissons.
Pourtant l'adage se retourne:
Voyez les débits de boisson.

Quels orateurs devenons-nous
Quand le vin blanc parle par nous
Nous conjurons, professons, disputons:
Jamais voisin n'écouterons.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to French (Français) copyright © 2006 by Charlotte Morel, (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 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729 - 1781), "Die Beredsamkeit", appears in Lieder
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2007-03-07
Line count: 8
Word count: 38