Die Alte (song)

"Die Alte" ("The Old Woman"), K. 517, is a song for voice and piano by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a poem by Friedrich von Hagedorn.

The song features a dramatic musical portrait of an old woman reminiscing of the Good old days.

Mozart found the text in the composer Anton Steffan's Sammlung Deutscher Lieder, nr.

Es ward kein Jüngling zum Verräter, Und unsre Jungfern freiten später, Sie reizten nicht der Mütter Neid.

Der Mann ward, wie es sich gebühret, Von einer lieben Frau regieret, Trotz seiner stolzen Männlichkeit.

No young man became unfaithful, and our maidens married later, they didn't irritate their mothers.

The sentiment of motherly urges, the cheekiness and the spirit of love can be seen in young babes.

The pious wife ruled gently, we kept our hats, and they the children; this used to be a widespread custom.

With this new behaviour in our land, and this curse upon married life a comet has threatened us for a long time.