Act III. Mahulena’s Song | … in the words of that old song

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by Julius Zeyer (1841 - 1901)

Translation © by Patrick John Corness

Jednání III. Píseń Mahuleny

Language: Czech (Čeština)

Our translations: ENG

Mahulena:
… tak jak v té staré písni. 
(Mlčí a za chvíli zpívá tiše)
Pod stromem seděla a dlouho čekala. 
On nepřicházel, nepřicházel, plakala, 
když slzy vyschly, mroucím hlasem děla: 
mně teskno tak, jako bych zemřít měla! ...

Ta píseň smutná je. Kdo ji as vymyslil? 
Snad vskutku se tak někdy dělo... 
Ale tomu dávno asi je. Nač si to myslím?... 
To proto snad—že mi tak k smrti teskno...
(Položí si hlavu v klín)

Opona

Text Authorship:

by Julius Zeyer (1841 - 1901) [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 Josef Suk (1874 - 1935), "Jednání III. Píseń Mahuleny", op. 13 no. 6 (1897-1898) [ voice and piano ], from Radúz a Mahulena, no. 6, revised 1912 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Patrick John Corness) , "Act III. Mahulena’s Song", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Patrick John Corness

This text was added to the website: 2023-11-08
Line count: 13
Word count: 74

Act III. Mahulena’s Song

Language: English after the Czech (Čeština)

Mahulena:
 … in the words of that old song. 
(She falls silent, then after a while starts softly singing) 
Beneath a tree she did sit, waited hours on end. 
But he did not come, he did not come, and she cried.
She complained mournfully, once her tears had dried:
I think I’m about to die, I am so sad!…

This is a sad song. I wonder who wrote it. 
Perhaps it really happened one day... 
But that must be a long time ago. 
Why do I think that?... Because — I’m sad as though about to die. 
(She rests her head in her lap)

Curtain

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 Julius Zeyer (1841 - 1901)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2023-11-08
Line count: 13
Word count: 105