Pierrot Lunaire, Op.

21
Arnold Schoenberg
Original collection of French poems by Albert Giraud
German translation by Eric Harleben
English translation of Schoenberg’s selection by Cecil Gray

1. Moondrunk A phantasmagorial light ray

The wine which through the eyes we drink Illumines tonight all the crystalline flasks.
Flows nightly from the moon in torrents, Pierrot with countenance waxen
And as a spring-tide overflows Stands musing and thinks
The far and distant land. How he tonight will paint.
Desires terrible and sweet Rejecting the red and the green of the east
Unnumbered drift in floods abounding. He bedaubs all his face in the latest of styles
The wine which through the eyes we drink With a phantasmagorial moonbeam.
Flows nightly from the moon in torrents.
The poet, in an ecstasy, 4. A Chlorotic Laundry Maid
Drinks deeply from the holy chalice, 1 A Chlorotic5 laundry maid
To heaven lifts up his entranced Washes nightly white silk garments;
Head, and reeling quaffs and drains down Naked, snow-white silvery foreams
The wine which through the eyes we drink. Stretching downward to the flood.
Through the glade steal gentle brezes.
2. Colombine Softly playing o’er the stream.
The pallid2 buds of moonlight A chlorotic laundry maid
Those pale and wondrous roses Washes nightly white silk garments.
Bloom in the nights of summer— And the gentle maid of heaven.
O could I pluck but one! By the branches softly fondled.
My heavy heart to lighten, Spreads on the dusky meadows
I search in darkling river All her moonlight-bewoven linen
The pallid buds of moonlight, A chlorotic laundry maid.
Those pale white wondrous roses.
Fulfilled would be my longing 5. Valse de Chopin
If I could softly gather, As a lingering drop of blood
With gentle care besprinkle Stains the lip of a consumptive,
Upon your dark brown tresses So this music is pervaded
The moonlight’s pallid blossoms. By a morbid deathly charm.
Wild ecstatic harmonies
3. The Dandy Disguise the icy touch of doom,
A phantasmagorial3 light ray As a lingering drop of blood
Illumines tonight all the crystalline flasks Stains the lip of a consumptive.6
On the holy, sacred, ebony wash-stand Ardent, joyful, sweet and yearning,
Of the taciturn dandy of Bergamo.4 Melancholic sombre waltzes,
In sonorous bronze-enwrought chalice Coursing ever through my senses
Laughs brightly the fountain’s metallic sound, Like a lingering drop of blood!
1
chalice: cup, goblet.
2
pallid: faint in color, pale, wan
3
phantasmagorial: a rapidly changing series of things seen or imagined, as the figures or events of a dream.
4
Bergamo: commune northern Italy in Lombardy NE of Milan.
5
chlorosis: a kind of anemia sometimes affecting girls at puberty and causing the skin to run a greenish color.
6
comsumptive: a person who has tuberculosis of the lungs.

Pierrot Lunaire 1 Albert Giraud/Otto Erich Harleben/Cecil Gray

6. Madonna The picture’s brightness dissolves.
Rise, O mother of all sorrows, Black flies the standard now from my mast,
From the alter of my verses! Pierrot, my laughter have I unlearnt
Blood pours forth from thy lean bosom O once more give me, healer of spirits,
Where the sword of frenzy pierced it. Snowman of lyrics, monarch of moonshine,
Thy forever gaping gashes Pierrot, my laughter!
Are like eyelids, red and open.
Rise, O mother of all sorrows,
From the alter of my verses. 10. Loot
In the lacerated arms Ancient royalty’s red rubies,
Holdst thou thy Son’s holy body, Bloody drops of antique glory,
Manifesting Him to mankind— Slumber in the hollow coffins
Yet the eyes of men avert themselves, Buried in the vaulted caverns,
O mother of all sorrows! Late at night with boon companions
Pierrot descends to ravish
7. The Ailing Moon Ancient royalty’s red rubies.
You ailing, death-awaiting moon, Bloody drops of antique glory.
High upon heaven’s dusty couch, But there every hair a-bristle,
Your glance, so feverish overlarge, Livid fear turns them to statues;
Lures me, like strange enchanting song. Through the murky gloom, like eyes—
With unrequited pain of love Glaring from the hollow coffins
You die, your longing deep concealed, Ancient royalty’s red rubies.
You ailing, death-awaiting moon,
High upon heaven’s dusty couch. 11. Red Mass
The lover, stirred by sharp desire To fearsome grim communion
Who reckless seeks for love’s embrace Where dazzling rays of gold gleam,
Exults in your bright play of light And fickering light of candles,
Your pale and pain-begotten flood, Comes to the alter Pierrot.
You ailing, death-awaiting moon. His hand, with grace invested,
Rends through the priestly garments,
8. Night For fearsome grim communion
Heavy, gloomy giant black moths Where dazzling rays of gold gleam.
Massacred the sun’s bright rays; With signs of benediction
Like a close-shut magic book He shows to frightened people
Broods the distant sky in silence. The dripping crimson wafer:
From the mists in deep recesses His heart—with bloody fingers
Rise up scents, destroying memory. In fearsome grim communion.
Heavy, gloomy giant black moths
Massacred the sun’s bright rays;
And from heaven earthward bound 12. Song of the Gallows
Downward sink with sombre pinions7 The haggard harlot8 with scraggy gizzard
Unperceived, great hords of monsters Will be his ultimate paramour.9
On the hearts and souls of mankind. . . Through all his thoughts there sticks like a gimlet
Heavy, gloomy giant black moths. The haggard harlot with scraggy gizzard.
Thin as a rake, round her neck a pigtail,
9. Prayer to Pierrot Joyfully will she embrace the rascal,
Pierrot! my laughter have I unlearnt! The haggard harlot!
7
pinion: 1. wing; 2. feather, quill
8
harlot: prostitute
9
paramour: an illicit lover.
10
scimitar: a short, curved sword with an edge on the convex side, used chiefly by Turks, Arabs, etc.

Pierrot Lunaire 2 Albert Giraud/Otto Erich Harleben/Cecil Gray

13. Decapitation As he rends the air with screeches
The moon, a polished scimitar10 Bores Pierrot in feigning tender
Upon a black and silken cushion, Fashion with a cranium driller.
So strangely large hangs menacing He then presses with his finger
Through sorrow’s gloomy night. Rare tobacco grown in Turkey
Pierrot wandering restlessly In the bald pate of Cassander,
Stares upon high in anguished fear As he rends the air with screeches.
Of the moon, the polished scimitar Then screwing a cherry pipe stem
Upon a black and silken cushion, Right in through the polished surface,
Like leaves of aspen are his knees, Sits at ease and smokes and puffs the
Swooning he falters, then collapses. Rare tobacco grown in Turkey
He thinks: the hissing vengeful steel From the bald pate of Cassander.
Upon his neck will fall in judgement,
The moon, a polished scimitar.

14. The Crosses

Holy crosses are the verses 17. Parody
Where the poets bleed in silence, Knitting needles, bright and polished,
Blinded by the peck of vultures Set in her greying hair,
Flying round in ghostly rabble. Sits the Duenna,13 mumbling,
On their bodies swords have feasted, In crimson costume clad.
Bathing in the scarlet bloodstream. She lingers in the arbour,
Holy crosses are the verses She loves Pierrot with passion,
Where the poets bleed in silence. Knitting needles, bright and polished,
Death then comes; dispersed the ashes— Set in her greying hair,
Far away the rabble’s clamour, But, listen, what a whisper,
Slowly sinks the sun’s red splendour, A zephyr titters softly;
Like a royal crown of glory. The moon, the wicked mocker,
Holy crosses are the verses. Now mimics with light rays
Bright needles, spick and span.
15. Nostalgia
Sweetly plaintive is the sigh of crystal
That ascends from Italy’s old players,
Sadly mourning that Pierrot so modern
And so sickly sentimental is now. 18. The Moonfleck
And it echoes from his heart’s waste desert, With a snowy fleck of shining moonlight
Muted tones which wind through all his senses, On the shoulder of his black silk frock-coat
Sweetly plaintive, like a sigh of crystal So walks out Pierrot this languid evening.
That ascends from Italy’s old players. Seeking everywhere for love’s adventure.
Now abjures11 Pierrot the tragic manner, But what! something wrong with his appearance?
Through the pallid fires of lunar landscape He looks round and round and then he finds it—
Through the foaming light-flood Just a snowy fleck of shining moonlight
mounts the longing, On the shoulder of his black silk frock-coat.
Surging high towards his native heaven. Wait now (thinks he) ’tis a piece of plaster,
Sweetly plaintive, like a sigh of crystal. Wipes and wipes, yet cannot make it vanish.
So he goes on poisoned with his fancy,
16. Atrocity Rubs and rubs until the early morning
Through the bald pate12 of Cassander, Just a snowy fleck of shining moonlight.
11
abjure: 1 a. to renounce upon oath b. to reject solemnly. 2. to abstain from.
12
pate: the crown of the head.
13
Duenna: chaperon.

Pierrot Lunaire 3 Albert Giraud/Otto Erich Harleben/Cecil Gray

19. Serenade The moonbeam is the rudder,
With a giant bow grotesquely Nenuphar serves as boat.
Scrapes Pierrot on his viola; To Bergamo, his homeland,
Like a stork on one leg standing Pierrot returns once more.
Sadly plucks a pizzicato. Soft gleams on the horizon
Now here comes Cassander fuming The orient green of dawn.
At this night-time virtuoso. The moonbeam is the rudder.
With a giant bow grotesquely
Scrapes Pierrot on his viola; 21. 0 Ancient scent
Casting then aside the viola, O ancient scent from far-off days,
With his delicate left hand he Intoxicate once more my senses!
Grips the bald pate by the collar— A merry swarm of idle thoughts
Dreamily he plays upon him Pervades the gentle air.
With a giant bow grotesquely. A happy whim makes me aspire
To joys which I too long neglected.
20. Journey Home O ancient scent from far-off days
The moonbeam is the rudder, Intoxicate me again.
Nenuphar14 searves as boat Now all my sorrow is dispelled,
On which Pierrot goes southward, And from my sun-encircled casement 15
The wind behind his sails, I view again the lovely world
In deep tones hums the river And dream beyond the fair horizon.
And rocks the light canoe, O ancient scent from far-off days!

14
nenuphar: white or yellow water-lily.
15
casement: a window sash that opens on hinges at the side.

Pierrot Lunaire 4 Albert Giraud/Otto Erich Harleben/Cecil Gray