Songs

Sie trugen ihn auf der Bahre bloss

by Johannes Brahms, arranged Aribert Reimann From Ophelia-Lieder WoO 22

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Text & Translation

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Sie trugen ihn auf der Bahre bloss
German source: August Wilhelm von Schlegel

Sie trugen ihn auf der Bahre bloss,
Leider, ach leider!
Und manche Trän’ fiel in Grabes Schoss,
Ihr müsst singen: ’Nunter! Und ruft ihr ihn ’nunter.
Denn traut lieb Fränzel ist all meine Lust. —

They bore him bare-faced on the bier
English translation © Richard Stokes

They bore him bare-faced on the bier,
Alas, ah alas!
And many a tear fell into his grave,
A-down, a-down, you must call him a-down.
For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.

Translations by Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)

Sie trugen ihn auf der Bahre bloss
German source: August Wilhelm von Schlegel

They bore him bare-faced on the bier
English source: Richard Stokes

Sie trugen ihn auf der Bahre bloss,
They bore him bare-faced on the bier,
Leider, ach leider!
Alas, ah alas!
Und manche Trän’ fiel in Grabes Schoss,
And many a tear fell into his grave,
Ihr müsst singen: ’Nunter! Und ruft ihr ihn ’nunter.
A-down, a-down, you must call him a-down.
Denn traut lieb Fränzel ist all meine Lust. —
For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.

Poet

August Wilhelm von Schlegel

August Wilhelm (after 1812: von) Schlegel, usually cited as August Schlegel, was a German poet, translator, critic, and a foremost leader of Jena Romanticism along with his brother Friedrich Schlegel. His translations of Shakespeare made the English…

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