Songs
Die wandelnde Glocke
(1832)
Die wandelnde Glocke
Es war ein Kind, das wollte nieZur Kirche sich bequemen,Und sonntags fand es stets ein Wie,Den Weg ins Feld zu nehmen.Die Mutter sprach: die Glocke tönt,Und so ist dir’s befohlen,Und hast du dich nicht hingewöhnt,Sie kommt und wird dich holen.Das Kind, es denkt: die Glocke hängtDa droben auf dem Stuhle.Schon hat’s den Weg ins Feld gelenkt,Als lief’ es aus der Schule.Die Glocke, Glocke tönt nicht mehr,Die Mutter hat gefackelt.Doch welch ein Schrecken hinterher!Die Glocke kommt gewackelt.Sie wackelt schnell, man glaubt es kaum;Das arme Kind im Schrecken,Es läuft, es kommt, als wie im Traum;Die Glocke wird es decken.Doch nimmt es richtig seinen HuschUnd mit gewandter Schnelle,Eilt es durch Anger, Feld und BuschZur Kirche, zur Kapelle.Und jeden Sonn- und FeiertagGedenkt es an den Schaden,Lässt durch den ersten Glockenschlag,Nicht in Person, sich laden.
The Walking Bell
A child there was who never wouldAgree to go to church,And every Sunday would find a wayOf escaping to the fields.His mother said: the church bell’s ringing,And so you are commanded,And if you’ve not grown used to it,The bell will come and fetch you.The child thinks, the bell is hangingUp there in the belfry.And already he’s heading for the fields,As though running out of school.The bell, the bell no longer rings,Mother was talking nonsense.But what a fright behind the child,The bell comes waddling after him.It waddles fast, it’s beyond belief;The poor child, in its terror,Runs as though he’s in a dream;The bell’s about to smother him.But he runs in the right direction,And with swift agilityHurries across field and mead and bushTo the church and to the chapel.And every Sunday and feast dayHe remembers the misadventure,Obeys the first stroke of the bell,Without waiting to be summoned.Translations by Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
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Composer
Johann Carl Gottfried Loewe (G30 November 1796 – 20 April 1869),was a German composer, tenor singer and conductor. He wrote over 400 ballads and songs.
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Poet
Johann Wolfgang Goethe was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour; and four novels. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him exist. A literary celebrity by the age of 25, Goethe was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Karl August in 1782 after first taking up residence there in November 1775 following the success of his first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther. He was an early participant in the Sturm und Drang literary movement. During his first ten years in Weimar, Goethe served as a member of the Duke's privy council, sat on the war and highway commissions, oversaw the reopening of silver mines in nearby Ilmenau, and implemented a series of administrative reforms at the University of Jena. He also contributed to the planning of Weimar's botanical park and the rebuilding of its Ducal Palace, which in 1998 were together designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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Previously performed at:
Die wandelnde Glocke
The Walking Bell
If you would like to use our texts and translations, please click here for more information.
Composer
Johann Carl Gottfried Loewe (G30 November 1796 – 20 April 1869),was a German composer, tenor singer and conductor. He wrote over 400 ballads and songs.
Information from Wikipedia. Read more here.
See Full Entry
Poet
Johann Wolfgang Goethe was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour; and four novels. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him exist. A literary celebrity by the age of 25, Goethe was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Karl August in 1782 after first taking up residence there in November 1775 following the success of his first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther. He was an early participant in the Sturm und Drang literary movement. During his first ten years in Weimar, Goethe served as a member of the Duke's privy council, sat on the war and highway commissions, oversaw the reopening of silver mines in nearby Ilmenau, and implemented a series of administrative reforms at the University of Jena. He also contributed to the planning of Weimar's botanical park and the rebuilding of its Ducal Palace, which in 1998 were together designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Taken from Wikipedia. To view the full article, please click here.
See Full Entry
Sorry, no further description available.