Carpenter's song
(Poet's title: Tischlerlied)
Set by Schubert:
D 274
[August 25, 1815]
Mein Handwerk geht durch alle Welt
Und bringt mir manchen Taler Geld,
Des bin ich hoch vergnügt.
Den Tischler braucht ein jeder Stand:
Schon wird das Kind durch meine Hand
In sanften Schlaf gewiegt.
Das Bette zu der Hochzeitnacht
Wird auch durch meinen Fleiß gemacht
Und künstlich angemalt.
Ein Geizhals sei auch noch so karg,
Er braucht am Ende einen Sarg,
Und der wird gut bezahlt.
Drum hab ich immer frohen Mut
Und mache meine Arbeit gut,
Es sei Tisch oder Schrank.
Und wer bei mir brav viel bestellt
Und zahlt mir immer bares Geld,
Dem sag ich großen Dank.
The work I produce with my hands goes through all the world
And brings me many a dollar in income,
Which I am extremely pleased about.
People from all walks of life need the carpenter;
By means of my hand the child will soon
Be lulled into a gentle sleep.
The bed for the wedding night
Will also be made by means of my industry
And put together artistically.
However stingy a miser is
At the end of the day he needs a coffin,
And those things pay well.
So I am always in a good humour
And I do my work well
Whether it be a table or a cupboard.
And to those who are good enough to order a lot
And always pay me in ready cash,
To them I say, ‘Thank you very much’.
All translations into English that appear on this website, unless otherwise stated, are by Malcolm Wren. You are free to use them on condition that you acknowledge Malcolm Wren as the translator and schubertsong.uk as the source. Unless otherwise stated, the comments and essays that appear after the texts and translations are by Malcolm Wren and are © Copyright.
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Themes and images in this text:
Beds Buying and selling / Shops and markets Coffins Cradles Money Workers and working songs
Underlying human experience through so much of history has been the work of the carpenter. From the bed on which we are conceived to the coffin in which we are buried we are in contact with woodwork. Babies are rocked in the cradle and grandparents sway on wooden porches in rocking chairs. Our food is kept in wooden cupboards and offered on wooden tables. We even call this sort of maintenance ‘bed and board’. Oak or pine, rosewood or mahogany, the work of basic joiners or highly skilled cabinet makers, woodwork is indeed everywhere. When we remember that Jesus Christ himself is said to have learnt carpentry from Joseph we can understand something of the pride underlying this utterance.
It cannot be denied, though, that there is an element of smugness in the speaker’s tone. He is less interested in the spiritual significance of wood and wooden artifacts (other writers might have pointed to the cross on which Christ was crucified and the life that was said to flow from it) than in the regular income that the ubiquity of wordwork guarantees. The only risk is at the high end of the market, for the Thomas Chippendales and George Hepplewhites of the business, with their reliance on the patronage of nobles and gentry (who had a particular reluctance to pay cash). Our speaker prefers to deal with more down to earth customers.
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Original Spelling Tischlerlied Mein Handwerk geht durch alle Welt Und bringt mir manchen Thaler Geld, Deß bin ich hoch vergnügt. Den Tischler braucht ein jeder Stand: Schon wird das Kind durch meine Hand In sanften Schlaf gewiegt. Das Bette zu der Hochzeitnacht Wird auch durch meinen Fleiß gemacht, Und künstlich angemahlt. Ein Geizhals sei auch noch so karg, Er braucht am Ende einen Sarg, Und der wird gut bezahlt. Drum hab´ ich immer frohen Muth, Und mache meine Arbeit gut, Es sei Tisch oder Schrank. Und wer bei mir brav viel bestellt Und zahlt mir immer baares Geld, Dem sag´ ich großen Dank.
Confirmed by Peter Rastl with Schubert’s probable source, Der Bürger. Eine Wochenschrift. Erstes Quartal. Halberstadt, gedrukt und zu finden bei Joh. Friedr. Delius, 1779, page 56; and with Handwerkslieder, auf Gelagen und Morgensprachen, oder beym Feyerabend, zu singen. Leipzig und Dessau, in der Buchhandlung der Gelehrten 1783, page 66.
To see an early edition of the text, go to page 56 [58:56] here: https://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/id/PPN1686662823?tify={%22pages%22:[58,59],%22view%22:%22info%22}