A wanderer returns tired

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Postcard A wanderer returns tired , early 20th century
Leberecht Dreves: The Homecoming (1839)

A wanderer returns tired is a German folk song from the 19th century. The text, which is distributed in countless versions, goes back to the ballad Die Heimkehr by Leberecht Dreves , which is said to have been written in 1836 and appeared in print in 1839. The melody of an unknown composer was first recorded in 1882. The song is considered a prime example of a " kitchen song ".

text

Dreves' ballad appeared in his poetry collection Vigilien. Nocturnal songs (Bonn 1839), consists of nine stanzas, each with four Trochaic , male-rhyming five-pointer lines. It describes the homecoming of a "hiker" who wants to greet his loved one who has stayed at home with a bouquet of flowers. The lover, however, is none other than the “gardener's wife”, who married in his absence and now weeps for her broken loyalty. The mutual recognition of the two remains underground for eight stanzas and is only uttered by the man in the last stanza before he “restlessly” drifts away with the bouquet.

The popular versions are regularly shortened by three to four stanzas, sometimes to the detriment of the intelligibility of the plot. Literary expressions have been replaced by more everyday and direct ones, with rhyme and rhythm often being destroyed. The climax is the third verse with the question “Why are you crying, lovely gardener's wife?” And her answer “No, oh no, I don't cry for these [the flowers]”, which increases the sobbing sentimentality to the point of comedy and, if not, also in dialect tone was quoted ("Why wejnste, Scheene Järtnersfrau ...").

melody

melody

The melody plays a decisive role in the sentimental effect of the song ? / i , which appeared in four-quarter time in 1882, but prevailed in six-eighth time and thus became a national good. With her third and sixth and seventh intervals, she is a perfect example of her genre. Audio file / audio sample

literature

Web links

Commons : A wanderer returns tired  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lebrecht Dreves: Poems. Published by Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff. A. Duncker, Berlin 1849, p. 180 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  2. ↑ a b Lebrecht Dreves: Vigils. Night songs. König, Bonn 1839, p. 93 f. ( Digitized version ).
  3. ↑ Ernst Klusen (Ed.): German songs . Insel, Frankfurt a. M. 1980, ISBN 3-458-04855-2 , p. 377 and p. 835.