У врат обители святой
Стоял просящий подаянья,
[Бедняк иссохший, чуть живой]1
От глада, жажды и страданья.

Куска лишь хлеба он просил,
И взор являл живую муку,
И кто-то камень положил
В его протянутую руку.

Так я молил твоей любви
С слезами горькими, с тоскою;
Так чувства лучшие мои
[Обмануты навек]2 тобою!

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¹ Rachmaninov: "Бессильный, бледный и худой" ("Bessil'nyj, blednyj i khudoj")
² Donaurov, Rachmaninov: "Навек обмануты" ("Navek obmanuty")

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Note on Transliterations

Authorship:

• by Mikhail Yur'yevich Lermontov (1814 - 1841), "Нищий", written 1830, first published 1844 [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 Irina Vladimirovna Arseyeva (1941 - 1999), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Mariya Vasilyevna Begicheva-Shilovskaya (1825 - 1879), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Feliks Mikhailovich Blumenfeld (1863 - 1931), "У врат обители святой", op. 9 (Six mélodies pour chant et piano) no. 1, published 1889 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Belaieff, also set in German (Deutsch), also set in French (Français) [sung text not yet checked]
• by César Antonovich Cui (1835 - 1918), "У врат обители святой", op. 27 (Шесть романсов = Shest' romansov (Six romances)) no. 3 (1884), published 1884 [ voice and piano ], St. Petersburg: V. Bessel [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Karl Yulyevich Davidov (1838 - 1889), "Нищий", op. 28 (Sechs Romanzen für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung) no. 3 [ voice and piano ], also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text not yet checked]
• by Erazm Rafal Dłuski (1857 - 1923), "Нищий", published 1895 [ voice and piano ], from Романсы, Песни (Romansy, Pesni) [1895], no. 7, Moscow, A. Gutheil [sung text not yet checked]
• by Sergei Ivanovich Donaurov (1839 - 1897), "У врат обители святой", 1871 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Isay Yakovlevich Galkin (1899 - 1968), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Vera Pavlovna Gerchik (1911 - 1999), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Viktor Genrikhovich Ivanovsky (1880 - c1943), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Mikhail Ivashchenko-Zavadsky , "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Nina Andreyevna Karnitskaya (1906 - 1983), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Vasily Davidovich Korganov (1865 - 1934), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Mikhail Ivanovich Krasev (1897 - 1954), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Grigory Ivanovich Kuzminsky (1794 - 1877), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Grigory Ivanovich Kuzminsky (1794 - 1877), "Романс" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Albert Semyonovich Leman (1915 - 1998), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Aleksandr Ippolitovich Mann (1864 - 1922), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Grigory Alekseyevich Marenich (1803 - 1918), "У врат обители святой" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (1880 - 1951), "У врат обители святой", op. 3 (Три романса (Tri romansa)) no. 1 (1903), published 1904 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Eduard Frantsevich Nápravník (1839 - 1916), "У врат обители святой", op. 31 no. 3 (1879) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Aleksandr Vasilyevich Nikolsky (1874 - 1943), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Aleksandr Vasilyevich Nikolsky (1874 - 1943), "У врат обители святой" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Semyon Viktorovich Panchenko (1867 - 1937), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Sergey Vladimirovich Protopopov (1883 - 1954), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Sergei Vasil'yevich Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943), "У врат обители святой", 1890, published 1947 [ voice and piano ], first published posthumously in Pavel Lamm's Unpublished Vocal Works [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Georgy Mikhailovich Rimsky-Korsakov (1901 - 1965), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Alfred Schnittke (1934 - 1998), "У врат обители святой", 1954-1955 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Yelizaveta Sergeyevna Shashina (1805 - 1903), "Нищий", 1879 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Fyodor Ivanovich Silin , "У врат обители святой" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Mikhail Nikolayevich Simansky (1910 - 2002), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Pavel Vasilyevich Sleptsov , "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Vladimir Aleksandrovich Sokolov (1895 - 1973), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Dmitry Arkadyevich Stolypin (1818 - 1893), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Julia Weissberg (1878 - 1942), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Yury Pavlovich Yefimov (b. 1923), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Igor Aleksandrovich Yeryomin (b. 1916), "Нищий" [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in French (Français), a translation by A. Aleksandrova ; composed by Feliks Mikhailovich Blumenfeld.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Karl Yulyevich Davidov.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Feliks Mikhailovich Blumenfeld.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    

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

• ENG English (Anton Bespalov) (Rianne Stam) , "At the gates of the holy cloister", copyright ©, (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: 51

At the gates of the holy cloister
stood a beggar,
exhausted, pale and destitute
of hunger, thirst and suffering

Just one piece of bread he asked,
and his look reflected the torments of his life
and someone had laid down a stone
in his extended hand

Likewise I begged your kindness
with bitter tears and melancholy heart
Likewise my better feelings
you betrayed forever!