by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Translation by Albert Ernest Flemming
Wir sind nur Mund. Wer singt das ferne...
Language: German (Deutsch)
Wir sind nur Mund. Wer singt das ferne Herz, das heil inmitten aller Dinge weilt? Sein großer Schlag ist in uns eingeteilt in kleine Schläge. [Und sein großer Schmerz ist, wie sein großer Jubel, uns zu groß. So reißen wir uns immer wieder los und sind nur Mund.]1 Aber auf einmal bricht der große Herzschlag heimlich in uns ein, so daß wir schrein, -- und sind dann Wesen, Wandlung und Gesicht.
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Authorship:
- by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926) [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 Tilo Medek (1940 - 2006), "Wir sind nur Mund. Wer singt das ferne Herz", 1980, copyright © 1982 [ chorus, orchestra ], from cantata Gethsemane, no. 6, Unkel am Rhein : Medek [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Erik Norby (1936 - 2007), "Wir sind nur Mund", 1985 [ mezzo-soprano and orchestra ], from Rilke-Lieder, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Fredrik Österling (b. 1966), "Wir sind nur Mund" [ mixed chorus ], Gehrmans Musikförlag [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Albert Ernest Flemming ; composed by Andrea Clearfield.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2013-09-03
Line count: 10
Word count: 70
Aoide
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch)
Only mouths are we. Who sings the distant heart which safely exists in the center of all things? His giant heartbeat is diverted in us into little pulses. And his giant grief is, like his giant jubilation, far too great for us. And so we tear ourselves away from him time after time, remaining only mouths. But unexpectedly and secretly the giant heartbeat enters our being, so that we scream ——, and are transformed in being and in countenance.
Authorship:
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Andrea Clearfield (b. 1960), "Aoide", subtitle: "muse of voice and song", 2017, published 2023 [ percussion ], from Round for three muses, [New York, New York] : Angelfire Press; note: The piece is a cross between a concert work and a performance art piece, where the performers play their instruments and also speak, sing and move. There are possibilities for structured improvisation, staging, visual projection and creative lighting [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2024-03-02
Line count: 11
Word count: 79