The forests are already colorful

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The forests are already colorful is a German folk song that sings of autumn . It is also known as the autumn song .

The text was written in 1782 by the Swiss poet Johann Gaudenz von Salis-Seewis under the title Herbstlied , subtitled 1782 , in seven stanzas and first published in the Vossischer Musen-Almanach for 1786 . Another publication from 1793 comprised five stanzas, the first two and the last being identical to the edition of 1786 and the penultimate stanzas partly coinciding. The music for this was composed in 1799 by the German composer Johann Friedrich Reichardt . Another setting from 1816 is by Franz Schubert ( D  502).

Most popular today is a version in four stanzas. These are the stanzas that were largely identical in the editions of 1786 and 1793. The only significant difference to then is the last line: Instead of the “German Ringeltanz” it is now often called “Merry Harvest Dance”.

1.
The forests are already colorful,
the stubble fields yellow,
and autumn begins.
Red leaves fall,
gray fog billows,
the wind blows cooler.

2.
How the full grape
shines
purple from the vine arbor ! Peaches
ripen on the railing
,
painted with red and white stripes .

3.
Nimble porters jump
and the girls sing,
everyone cheers happily!
Colorful ribbons float
between tall vines
on the hat of straw.

4.
Violin sounds and flute
at
sunset and in the moonlight;
young winemakers
wave and start the
happy harvest dance / German ring dance.

In the version published by Friedrich Matthisson in 1793, there is another stanza which was actually intended between the 3rd and 4th stanza, but which is no longer widespread and is no longer sung:

Look! how here the prostitute
diligently
puts plums and pears in her basket;
There, with easy steps,
those who
carry golden quinces into the country courtyard!

Since the word " whore " is a term that is now an ancient term for "easy girl", i.e. H. "Prostitute" is and is no longer used in its true origin (prostitute = deer, girl), this stanza, which is actually harmless, has been forgotten.

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Herbstlied  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. Muses Almanach for 1786. Ed. By Voss and Goecking . Bohn, Hamburg [1785], pp. 34–36 ( digitized in the Munich digitization center ).
  2. ^ Franz Schubert: Herbstlied D 502 : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
  3. ^ Poems by JG von Salis. Collected by his friend Friedrich Matthisson. Orell, Gessner, Füssli and Compagnie, Zurich 1793, p. 53 f. ( online in the song dictionary).