Turha toive | Lukemattomia aaltoja vaeltaa

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by Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804 - 1877)

Translation © by Erkki Pullinen

Fåfäng önskan

Language: Swedish (Svenska)

Our translations: ENG FIN FRE

Otaliga vågor vandra
På hafvets glänsande ban.
O, vore jag bland de andra
En bölja i ocean,
Så liknöjd djupt i mitt sinne,
Så sorglöst kylig och klar,
Så utan ett enda minne
Från flydda sällare dar!

Dock, skulle en våg jag vara,
Den samme jag vore väl då.
Här går jag ju bland en skara
Af svala vågor också.
De skämta med fröjd och med smärta,
På lek de tåras och le,
Blott jag har mitt brinnande hjerta:
O, vore jag utan som de!

Text Authorship:

by Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804 - 1877), "Fåfäng önskan", appears in Lyriska dikter I [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 Karl Collan (1828 - 1871), "Fåfäng önskan", 1852 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Robert Kajanus (1856 - 1933), "Fåfäng önskan", op. 4 (Fyra visor med piano = Vier Lieder für Mezzo-Sopran mit Pianoforte) no. 2 (1880), published 1880 [ voice and piano ], also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
by Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957), "Fåfäng önskan", op. 61 (8 sånger (Eight Songs)) no. 7 (1910) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Alma von Böhlendorff , "Vergeblicher Wunsch" ; composed by Robert Kajanus.

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

ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Vain desire", copyright © 2019
FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , "Turha toive", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Vain désir", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-09-17
Line count: 16
Word count: 85

Turha toive

Language: Finnish (Suomi) after the Swedish (Svenska)

Lukemattomia aaltoja vaeltaa
meren hohtavalla pinnalla,
voi olisinpa minä niiden joukossa,
laineena valtamerellä.
Yhtä tyytyväinen syvällä mielessäni,
niin huolettoman viileä ja kirkas,
niin ilman ainuttakaan muistoa
menneiltä onnellisemmilta ajoilta!

Mutta vaikka olisinkin aalto,
luultavasti olisin samanlainen kuin nyt;
kuljenhan täälläkin keskellä laumaa,
joka muodostuu viileistä aalloista.
Ne pilailevat ilolla ja tuskalla,
leikillään ne itkevät ja nauravat,
vain minulla on hehkuva sydämeni,
voi, kunpa voisin olla ilman sitä kuin ne!

Text Authorship:

Translation from Swedish (Svenska) to Finnish (Suomi) copyright © 2009 by Erkki Pullinen, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Erkki Pullinen. We have no current contact information for the copyright-holder.
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in Swedish (Svenska) by Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804 - 1877), "Fåfäng önskan", appears in Lyriska dikter I
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2009-11-03
Line count: 16
Word count: 69