There stands that rock face of old | There stands that rock face of old

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by Gustav Pfleger-Moravský (1833 - 1875)

Translation © by Patrick John Corness

Tam stojí stará skalá

Language: Czech (Čeština)

Our translations: ENG

Tam stojí stará skalá 
U vchodu údolí,
Tak opuštěná, pustá, 
Až srdce zabolí.

K té staré skálé často 
Zabloudí noha má;
Já vzhůru k ní pozírám 
Vlhkýma zrakoma.

A u té tvrdé skály 
Já dlouhé chvíle dlím,
A všecky své bolesti 
Tu v srdci pouspím...

Až umru, v tuto skálu 
Uložte [srdce]¹ mé:
Tam na věčnosť se uspí 
To všecko hoře mé!...

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• A. Dvořák

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Cypřiše. Sbírka básní lyrických a epických od Gustava Pflegera (Moravského), V Praze (Prague) : Nákladem knihkupectvi: I. L. Kober, 1862, page 70. Note: in stanza 4, line 1, the website antonin-dvorak.cz shows "v tu skálu" instead of "v tuto skálu". The Bärenreiter edition (2003) of Dvořák's setting follows the Pfleger-Moravský edition.

¹ Dvořák: "tělo"

Text Authorship:

by Gustav Pfleger-Moravský (1833 - 1875), no title, appears in Cypřiše. Sbírka básní lyrických a epických, in 1. Dozvuky lyrické, in 2. Písně, no. 16 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Antonín Dvořák (1841 - 1904), "Tam stojí stará skalá u vchodu údolí", B. 11 no. 16 (1865) [ voice and piano ], from Cypřiše, no. 16 [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 63

There stands that rock face of old

Language: English after the Czech (Čeština)

There stands that rock face of old,
at the head of the dale,
so bare and so deserted
that my poor heart must bewail.

Many times to that old rock
my footsteps draw me near;
up there I longingly look,
from my eye falls a tear.

By that hard rock, all alone,
I spend a deal of time,
and there all my aching pain
I let my heart benumb…

In that rock, when I die,
lay my body to rest;
from all my grief then gain I
eternal peace at last!

Text Authorship:

Translation from Czech (Čeština) to English copyright © 2023 by Patrick John Corness, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in Czech (Čeština) by Gustav Pfleger-Moravský (1833 - 1875), no title, appears in Cypřiše. Sbírka básní lyrických a epických, in 1. Dozvuky lyrické, in 2. Písně, no. 16
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2023-08-18
Line count: 16
Word count: 91