Love Songs

Song Cycle by Antonín Dvořák (1841 - 1904)

View original-language texts alone: Písně milostné

1. Ó, naší lásce nekvete
 (Sung text)
Language: Czech (Čeština) 
Ó naší lásce nekvete
To vytoužené štěstí:
A kdyby květlo, na světě
Nebude dlouho kvěsti.

Pročby se slza v ohnivé
Polibky vekrádala?
Proč by's mě v plné lásce své
Ouzkostně objímala?

Ó trpké je to loučení,
Kde naděj nezakyne:
Tu srdce cítí ve chvění,
Že brzo bídně zhyne.

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by Gustav Pfleger-Moravský (1833 - 1875)
1. The happiness that was our wish
Language: English 
The happiness that was our wish
our love does not yet fulfil.
If in this world it did flourish
it would bloom just a short while.

Why would a tear steal its way
into a passionate kiss?
If it loves me so, then o why
hold me in anxious embrace?

O, parting is bitter indeed
when no hope seems to beckon;
then the trembling heart feels afraid
of death in misery soon.

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.
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This text was added to the website: 2023-08-18
Line count: 12
Word count: 72

Translation © by Patrick John Corness
2. V tak mnohém srdci mrtvo jest
 (Sung text)
Language: Czech (Čeština) 
V tak mnohém srdci mrtvo jest
Jak v temné pustině;
V něm na žalosť a na bolesť,
Ba místa jedině.

Tu klami lásky horoucí
V to srdce vstupuje,
A srdce žalem prahnoucí,
To mní, že miluje.

A v tomto sladkém domnění
Se ještě jednou v ráj
To srdce mrtvé promění
A zpívá starou báj!

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by Gustav Pfleger-Moravský (1833 - 1875)
2. So many hearts are all lifeless
Language: English 
So many hearts are all lifeless,
arid as a desert,
therein for pain and for sadness
alone there is room left.

Even dreams of loving passion
grow in this heart that grieves,
and the heart, yearning in its pain,
believes it truly loves.

And in this sweet delusion
the heart that became dead
enters paradise once again
and sings a lay of old!

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.
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This text was added to the website: 2023-08-17
Line count: 12
Word count: 63

Translation © by Patrick John Corness
3. Kol domu se teď potácím
 (Sung text)
Language: Czech (Čeština) 
Kol domu se teď potácím,
Kde's bydlívala dříve,
A z lásky rány krvácím,
Te lásky sladké, lživé!

A smutným okem nazírám,
Zdaž ke mně vedeš kroku:
A vstříc Ti náruč otvírám,
Však slzu cítím v oku!

Ó kde jsi, drahá, kde jsi dnes,
Což nepřijdeš mi vstříce?
Což nemám, v srdci slasť a ples,
Tě uzříť nikdy více?

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by Gustav Pfleger-Moravský (1833 - 1875)
3. Now I’m staggering past the house
Language: English 
Now I’m staggering past the house
Where one day you used to live,
bleeding from the wounds love inflicts,
that beautiful love, false love!

As in my sadness I behold
whether perhaps you come near;
though welcoming arms I unfold,
there wells up a tear!

O won’t you come to me today?
Where are you, o where, my dear?
May my heart never leap for joy
casting eyes on you somewhere?

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.
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This text was added to the website: 2023-08-18
Line count: 12
Word count: 71

Translation © by Patrick John Corness
4. Já vím, že v sladké naději
 (Sung text)
Language: Czech (Čeština) 
Já vím, že v sladké naději
Tě smím přec milovat:
A že chceš tím horoucněji
Mou lásku pěstovať.

A přec, když nazřím očí Tvých
V tu přerozkošnou noc;
A zvím, jak lásky nebe z nich
Na mne snáší moc:

Tu moje oko slzami
Se náhle se obstírá,
Neb v štěstí naše za námi
Zlý osud pozírá!...

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by Gustav Pfleger-Moravský (1833 - 1875)
4. Oh yes, I may love you, I know
Language: English 
Oh yes, I may love you, I know,
dreaming I’m your lover,
that ardently, all the more so,
my love you’d fain foster.

And yet, when I gaze in your eyes,
into glorious night,
learn how divine love, through those eyes,
works on me its might,

then suddenly my eyes are all
bathed in tears of sadness
for in our happiness still
evil fate watches us!

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.
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This text was added to the website: 2023-08-18
Line count: 12
Word count: 66

Translation © by Patrick John Corness
5. Nad krajem vévodí lehký spánek
 (Sung text)
Language: Czech (Čeština) 
Nad krajem vévodí lehký spánek,
Jasná se rozpjala májová noc;
Nesmělý krade se do listí vánek,
S nebes se schýlila míru moc.

Zadřímlo kvítí, potokem šumá
Tišeji nápěvů tajemných sbor...
Příroda v rozkoši blaženě dumá,
Neklidných živlů všad utichl vzpor.

Hvězdy se sešly co naději světla,
Země se mění na nebeský kruh:
Mým srdcem, v němžto kdys blaženosť květla,
Mým srdcem táhne jen bolestí ruch!

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by Gustav Pfleger-Moravský (1833 - 1875)
5. All over the landscape a light sleep reigns
Language: English 
All over the landscape a light sleep reigns,
a clear May night embracing all around;
among the leaves steals in a gentle breeze,
from heaven forces of peace descend.

The flowers are dozing, the brook murmurs,
mysterious choruses quieten,
nature in its delight blissfully meditates;
all restless elements have calmed down.

The stars are gathering as hope-bearing lights,
the earth becomes a celestial sphere;
in my heart, where bliss was so abundant, once,
in my heart, just endless pain I feel here!

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.
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This text was added to the website: 2023-08-18
Line count: 12
Word count: 82

Translation © by Patrick John Corness
6. Zde v lese u potoka
 (Sung text)
Language: Czech (Čeština) 
Zde v lese u potoka 
Já stojím sám a sám;
A ve potoka vlny
V myšlenkách pozírám.

Tu vidím starý kámen,
Nad nímž se vlny dmou;
Ten kámen stoupá, padá
Bez klidu pod vlnou.

A proud se oň opírá,
Až kámen zvrhne se:
Kdy vlna života mne 
Se světa odnese?

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by Gustav Pfleger-Moravský (1833 - 1875)
6. By a brook in the forest
Language: English 
By a brook in the forest
here I stand, all alone,
gazing, in my thoughts engrossed,
at wavelets floating on.

Now I can see an old stone
beneath the rippling waves;
it rises and falls again,
restless below it roves.

The stone, by the water’s force, 
at length is overturned;
when will life’s wave take its course,
bearing me from this world?

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.
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This text was added to the website: 2023-08-18
Line count: 12
Word count: 63

Translation © by Patrick John Corness
7. V té sladké moci očí tvých
 (Sung text)
Language: Czech (Čeština) 
V té sladké moci očí Tvých
Jak rád bych zahynul,
Kdyby mně k životu jen smích
Rtů krásných nekynul.

Však tu smrť sladkou zvolím hned
S tou láskou ve hrudí:
Když mě jen ten Tvůj smavý ret
K životu probudí.

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by Gustav Pfleger-Moravský (1833 - 1875)
7. I’m in such sweet thrall to your eyes
Language: English 
I’m in such sweet thrall to your eyes
I’d die happy today,
if those so lovely laughing lips
did not beckon to stay.

Yet such sweet death I would choose still,
there’s love in my heart, enough,
if you could, with your lovely smile,
restore me back to life.

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.
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This text was added to the website: 2023-08-17
Line count: 8
Word count: 49

Translation © by Patrick John Corness
8. Ó, duše drahá, jedinká
 (Sung text)
Language: Czech (Čeština) 
Ó, duše drahá, jedinká,
Jež v srdci žiješ dosuď:
Má oblétá Tě myšlenka,
Ač dělí nás zlý osud.

Ó kéž jsem zpěvnou labutí,
Já zaletěl bych k Tobě:
A v posledním bych vzdechnutí
Ti vypěl srdce v mdlobě.

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by Gustav Pfleger-Moravský (1833 - 1875)
8. O dear soul, the only one true
Language: English 
O dear soul, the only one true,
that still dwells within my heart;
my thoughts still hover around you,
though evil fate keeps us apart.

O, if I were a singing swan,
over to you would I fly,
singing my heart out as I swoon,
as I’m breathing my last sigh.

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.
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This text was added to the website: 2023-08-17
Line count: 8
Word count: 51

Translation © by Patrick John Corness