Ophelia's song | When you left me, my dear friend

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by Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Blok (1880 - 1921)

Translation © by Anne Evans

Песня Офелии

Language: Russian (Русский)

Our translations: ENG FRE ITA

Разлучаясь с девой милой, друг,
Ты клялся мне любить!...
Уезжая в край постылый,
Клятву данную хранить!...

Там, за Данией счастливой,
Берега твои во мгле...
Вал сердитый, говорливый
Моет слёзы на скале...

Милый воин не вернётся,
Весь одетый в серебро...
В гробе тяжко всколыхнётся
Бант и чёрное перо...

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Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

by Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Blok (1880 - 1921), "Песня Офелии", written 1899, appears in Стихотворения. Книга первая (1898—1904), in 1. Ante Lucem (1898 - 1900), no. 14 [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 Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (1906 - 1975), "Песня Офелии", op. 127 no. 1 [ soprano and violoncello ], from Семь Стихотворений А. Блока: вокально-инструментальная сюита = Sem' stikhotvorenij A. Bloka, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Anne Evans) , "Ophelia's song", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Chant d'Ophélie", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Il canto di Ofelia", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 47

Ophelia's song

Language: English after the Russian (Русский)

When you left me, my dear friend
you promised to love me
You left for a distant land,
and swore to keep your promise!

Beyond the happy land of Denmark,
the shores are in darkness...
The angry waves wash
over the rocks...

My warrior shall not return,
all dressed in silver...
The bow, and the black feather will
restlessly lie in their grave.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Russian (Русский) to English copyright © 2009 by Anne Evans, (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 Russian (Русский) by Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Blok (1880 - 1921), "Песня Офелии", written 1899, appears in Стихотворения. Книга первая (1898—1904), in 1. Ante Lucem (1898 - 1900), no. 14
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2009-02-07
Line count: 12
Word count: 63