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Was ist sterben? was ist todt seyn?

from Kindertodtenlieder (2020) by Thomas Oboe Lee

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lyrics

Was ist sterben? was ist todt seyn?
Sprach mein Knab’ im vollsten Leben.
Was soll ich zur Antwort geben?
Sich entfärben, nicht mehr roth seyn.

Was ist sterben? was ist todt seyn?
Ach, daß er die Frage fraget!
Wie mein Herz, das zage, zaget!
Soll Verderben mir gedroht seyn?

Soll zum Werben es der Bot seyn?
Ja der Bot’, er hat geworben,
Und du fragst nicht mehr, gestorben:
Was ist sterben? was ist todt seyn?

Was ist sterben? was ist todt seyn?
Frag’ ich dich, wie du mich fragtest;
Und mir ist, als ob du sagtest:
Frei der herben Erdennoth seyn.

...

What is dying? what is to be dead?
Spoke my boy in full life
What should I answer?
Decolorize, no longer red.

What is dying? what is to be dead?
Oh, he is asking the question!
My heart is apprehensive, it hesitates!
Is it trying to destroy me?

Has the messenger announced it?
Yes the messenger, he has announced it.
You no longer have to ask, he is dead:
What is dying? what is to be dead?

What is dying? what is to be dead?
I ask you, as you asked me;
And to me, as if you said:
Be free from the bitter hardship of the earth.

credits

from Kindertodtenlieder (2020), released November 13, 2020

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about

Thomas Oboe Lee Cambridge, Massachusetts

Thomas Oboe Lee was born in China in 1945. He lived in São Paulo, Brazil, for six years before coming to the United States in 1966. After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh, he studied composition at the New England Conservatory and Harvard University. He has been a member of the music faculty at Boston College since 1990. ... more

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