Doleful river | O river from the country of strangers

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by Stefan Witwicki (1801 - 1847)

Translation © by Laura Prichard

Smutna rzeka

Language: Polish (Polski)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Rzeko z cudzoziemców strony,
Czemu nurt twój tak zmącony?
Czy się gdzie zapadły brzegi,
Czy stopniały stare, stare śniegi?

Leżą w górach stare śniegi,
Kwiatem kwitną moje brzegi,
Ale tam, przy źródle moim,
Płacze matka nad mym zdrojem.

Siedem córek piastowała,
Siedem córek zakopała,
Siedem córek śród ogrodu,
Głowami przeciwko wschodu, wschodu.

Teraz się z duchami wita,
O wygody dziatki pyta
I mogiły ich polewa,
I żałośne pieśni śpiewa.

Text Authorship:

by Stefan Witwicki (1801 - 1847) [author's text not yet checked 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 Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849), "Smutna rzeka", op. 74 no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Wilhelm Henzen (1850 - 1910) , "Trübe Wellen" ; composed by Paul Hoppe.

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

ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "Doleful river", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Triste rivière", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Ferdinand Gumbert) , "Trübe Wellen"
GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Georg Friedrich Reiß) , "Trübe Wellen"

Research team for this page: Gerhard Dangel , Guy Laffaille [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2003-12-27
Line count: 16
Word count: 69

Doleful river

Language: English after the Polish (Polski)

[O] river from the country of strangers,
Why is your course so cloudy?
Is it that, somewhere, your banks have collapsed, [or]
Is it the meltwater of old, old snows?

Lying in the mountains, are old snows,
Buds blossom on my banks,
But there, by my wellspring,
Cries a mother, [sitting] near my source.

Seven daughters she raised,
Seven daughters she buried,
Seven daughters in the garden,
Facing the East, the East.

Now she greets the ghosts,
She asks about each child’s comfort,
And their graves are soaked [with her tears],
And she sings mournful songs.

Translator's note: this text is framed as a question to the river in the first stanza, and the answer from the river in the second through fourth stanzas.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Polish (Polski) to English copyright © 2023 by Laura Prichard, (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 Polish (Polski) by Stefan Witwicki (1801 - 1847)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2023-10-08
Line count: 16
Word count: 96