by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Translation © by Stephen Mitchell (b. 1943)
Du im voraus
Language: German (Deutsch)
Du im voraus verlorne Geliebte, Nimmergekommene, nicht weiß ich, welche Töne dir lieb sind. Nicht mehr versuch ich, dich, wenn das Kommende wogt, zu erkennen. Alle die großen Bilder in mir, im Fernen erfahrene Landschaft, Städte und Türme und Brücken und unvermutete Wendung der Wege und das Gewaltige jener von Göttern einst durchwachsenen Länder : steigt zur Bedeutung in mir deiner, Entgehende, an . Ach, die Gärten bist du, ach, ich sah sie mit solcher Hoffnung. Ein offenes Fenster im Landhaus - und du tratest beinahe mir nachdenklich heran. Gassen fand ich, -- du warst sie gerade gegangen, und die Spiegel manchmal der Läden der Händler waren noch schwindlig von dir und gaben erschrocken mein zu plötzliches Bild. -Wer weiß, ob derselbe Vogel nicht hinklang durch uns gestern, einzeln, im Abend?
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Rainer Maria Rilke, Gedichte, Insel-verlag, 1927, p.451
Text Authorship:
- by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, written 1913/14, appears in Die Gedichte 1910-1922 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Karl Julius Marx (1897 - 1985), "Du im voraus verlorene Geliebte", op. 47 no. 3 (1946) [ mixed chorus ], from Rilke-Gesänge, no. 3, Baerenreiter Verlag [sung text not yet checked]
- by Manfred Trojahn (b. 1949), "Chant d’insomnie II", 2007, first performed 2007 [ 2 sopranos, 2 violins, and string quartet ], from Lettera amorosa, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Stephen Mitchell (b. 1943) , copyright © ; composed by Paul Basler.
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Tamara Isaakovna Silman (1909 - 1974) , no title, copyright © ; composed by Vladislav Mikhailovich Lebedev.
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2023-10-03
Line count: 23
Word count: 128
You who never arrived
Language: English after the German (Deutsch)
You who never arrived [ ... ]
This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.
Text Authorship:
- by Stephen Mitchell (b. 1943), copyright © [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, written 1913/14, appears in Die Gedichte 1910-1922
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Paul Basler (b. 1963), "You who never arrived", copyright © 1999 [ mixed chorus and piano ], from Three Love Songs, Flymouth Music/Colla Voce Music [sung text not yet checked]
This text was added to the website: 2023-10-03
Line count: 25
Word count: 162