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Songs

Songs

Gigerlette (1901)

Part of a series or song cycle:

Brettl-Lieder [Cabaret Songs]

Gigerlette

Otto Julius Bierbaum

Fräulein Gigerlette
Lud mich ein zum Tee.
Ihre Toilette
War gestimmt auf Schnee;
Ganz wie Pierrette
War sie angetan.
Selbst ein Mönch, ich wette,
Sähe Gigerlette
Wohlgefällig an.
War ein rotes Zimmer,
Drin sie mich empfing,
Gelber Kerzenschimmer
In dem Raume hing.
Und sie war wie immer
Leben und Esprit.
Nie vergess ichs, nimmer:
Weinrot war das Zimmer,
Blütenweiß war sie.
Und im Trab mit Vieren
Fuhren wir zu zweit
In das Land spazieren,
Das heißt Heiterkeit.
Daß wir nicht verlieren
Zügel, Ziel und Lauf,
Saß bei dem Kutschieren
Mit den heißen Vieren
Amor hinten auf.

Gigerlette

English Translation © Richard Stokes

Fräulein Gigerlette
Invited me to tea.
Her attire
Harmonized with snow;
She was dressed
Just like Pierrette.
Even a monk, I bet,
Would gaze on Gigerlette
With pleasure.
She received me
In a red room,
Yellow candlelight
Flickered in the air.
And she was, as ever,
Full of life and wit.
I’ll not forget it, never,
The room was wine-red,
She was blossom-white.
And both of us rode off
In a carriage-and-four
Out into the Land
Of Mirth.
In order to reach our goal
And not stray without reins,
Cupid sat atop
At the back
Of our carriage-and-four.
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)

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Composer

Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Franz Walter Schoenberg or Schönberg was an Austrian composer, music theorist, and painter. He was associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School.


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Poet

Otto Julius Bierbaum

Otto Julius Bierbaum was a German writer.


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