by Mikhail Yur'yevich Lermontov (1814 - 1841)
По небу полуночи ангел летел
Language: Russian (Русский)
По небу полуночи ангел летел, И тихую песню он пел; И месяц, и звёзды, и тучи толпой Внимали той песне святой. Он пел о блаженстве безгрешных духов Под кущами райских садов; О боге великом он пел, и хвала Его непритворна была. Он душу младую в объятиях нёс Для мира печали и слёз; И звук его песни в душе молодой Остался -- без слов, но живой. И долго на свете томилась она, Желанием чудным полна, И [звуков]1 небес заменить не могли Ей скучные песни земли.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with М. Ю. Лермонтов, Сочинения Том 1; Москва Издательство "Правда", 1988 (M. Yu. Lermontov: Works, Volume 1; Moscow; "Truth" Publishers)
See also Tolstoy's poem Горними тихо летела душа небесами.
1 Gretchaninov: "pesen"Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST
Note on TransliterationsAuthorship:
- by Mikhail Yur'yevich Lermontov (1814 - 1841), "Ангел", first published 1831 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Leslie Crabtree (b. 1941), "Ангел", 2009 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Georgy Vasilyevich Got (1861 - 1917), "Ангел" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Aleksandr Tikhonovich Gretchaninov (1864 - 1956), "По небу полуночи ангел летел", op. 114 no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Yuly Antonovich Kapri (1831 - 1918), "Ангел" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nikolai Mikhailovich Ladukhin (1860 - 1918), "Ангел", 1894 [ mixed chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (1880 - 1951), "Ангел", op. 1bis [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Eduard Frantsevich Nápravník (1839 - 1916), "Ангел", op. 63 no. 1 (1898) [ mixed chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sergei Vasil'yevich Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943), "Ангел", op. 15 no. 6 (1895), published 1895 [ women's chorus (or children's chorus) and piano ], from Шесть хоров для женских или детских голосов (Shest' khorov dlja zhenskikh ili detskikh golosov) = Six choruses for women's or children's voices, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 - 1908), "По небу полуночи", op. 40 (Четыре романса (Chetyre romansa)) no. 2 (1897), also set in French (Français) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (1829 - 1894), "Ангел", op. 48 no. 1 (1852) [ duet for alto and soprano with piano ], from Двенадцать дуэтов (Dvenadcat' du`etov) = Twelve duets, no. 1, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alexander Nikolayevich Serov (1820 - 1871), "Ангел" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020), "Ангел", op. 153 no. 2 (2007), published 2008 [ voice and cello ], from Odinokij strannik, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Vladimir Timofeyevich Sokolov (1830 - 1890), "Ангел" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nikolay Mikhailovich Strelnikov (1888 - 1939), "Ангел" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Aleksandr Yegorovich Varlamov (1801 - 1848), "Ангел", 1843 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by F. A. Zaikin , "Ангел" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Visily Aleksandrovich Zhdanov (1845 - 1910), "Ангел" [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by G. Jorissenne ; composed by Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov.
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Catulle Mendès (1841 - 1909) , "L'ange et l'âme", appears in Petits poèmes russes, in 5. Lermontov, no. 3, Paris, G. Charpentier et E. Fasquelle, first published 1893 ; composed by Camille Erlanger.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), [adaptation] ; composed by Paul Frommer, Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein.
- Also set in Spanish (Español), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Manuel M. Ponce.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Dmitri Smirnov) , "The angel", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Martha Gilbert Dickinson Bianchi) , "The angel", appears in Russian Lyrics, first published 1916
- ENG English (Sergey Rybin) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Anonymous/Unidentified Artist) , "L'ange"
- GER German (Deutsch) (Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt) , "Der Engel"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 83