Hermann HESSE – Autograph poem signed, “Verlorener Klang”. 1917.

Hermann Hesse (1877.1962)

Autograph manuscript signed.

One page in quarto with autograph notes on the reverse.

No place or date [1917]

"I wouldn't trade my life with the happy ones."

Magnificent manuscript of an early version of one of his major poems, Verlorener Klang, here initially titled Der Klang.

The poem, written in 1917 during his existential crisis related to the First World War, was published the same year. Hesse explores and describes the emergence of a childhood sensory memory and the involuntary reactivation of a lost sensation. The poem fits within Hesse's recurring themes of interiority, nostalgia, and despair. In addition to the original German version, we present here Pierre Mathé's French translation under the title * Sonorité perdue* (Lost Sound).

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One day during my childhood,

I was walking along a meadow,

Carried by the morning wind

A song began softly,

A tone in the azure,

Or perhaps a perfume, a floral perfume

It smelled good, it resonated

For an eternity,

Throughout my childhood.

I was no longer aware of it

It's only these days

That hidden in my chest

I heard it beating again.

And now everyone is indifferent to me

I wouldn't trade my life with the happy ones

I will only listen

Listen and remain silent

As a fragrant note passes,

Which could be the sound of yesteryear.

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On the back of the poem, Hesse notes that he receives 40 gold marks as a fee for each poem, a sum which can be sent to the publishing house S. Fischer in Berlin.

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Original version:

Einmal in Kindertagen / Ging ich die Wiese lang, / Kam still getragen / Im Morgenwind ein Gesang, / Ein Ton in blauer Luft, / Oder ein Duft, ein blumiger Duft, / Der duftete süß, der klang / Eine Ewigkeit lang, / Meine ganze Kindheit lang./ Es war mir nicht mehr bewusst – / Erst jetzt in diesen Tagen / Hör ich innen in der Brust / Ihn wieder verborgen schlagen. / Und jetzt ist alle Welt mir einerlei,/ Will nicht mit den Glücklichen tauschen, / Will nur lauschen, / Lauschen und stillestehn, / Wie die duftenden Töne gehn, / And ob es noch der Klang von damals sei.