Tell me, why, beautiful maiden | Tell me, why, beautiful maiden

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

possibly by Aleksey Vasil'yevich Kol'tsov (1808 - 1842) and possibly by Modest Petrovich Musorgsky (1839 - 1881) and possibly by Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799 - 1837)

Translation © by Sergey Rybin

Отчего, скажи, душа‑девица

Language: Russian (Русский)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Отчего, скажи, душа-девица,
ты сидишь теперь пригорюнилась
и безмолвная на дороженьку
ты, вздохнув, глядишь не насмотришься?
Иль с тобой при тебе нету милого,
иль остыла в нем кровь горячая,
или ты ему уж наскучила,
иль забыл тебя твой сердечный друг?

Нет, мой милый друг не забыл меня
и не то щемит сердце бедное,
а я милова в дальну сторону,
в путь-дороженьку снаряжаю я,
а я милова в дальну сторону,
в путь-дороженьку снаряжаю я.

About the headline (FAQ)

Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST

Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

possibly by Aleksey Vasil'yevich Kol'tsov (1808 - 1842)
possibly by Modest Petrovich Musorgsky (1839 - 1881)
possibly by Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799 - 1837)

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Modest Petrovich Musorgsky (1839 - 1881), "Отчего, скажи, душа-девица", 1858, published 1867 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Shakhmatov (1864 - 1920), "Отчего, скажи, душа-девица" [sung text not yet checked]
by Pauline Viardot-García (1821 - 1910), "Отчего, скажи" [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Sergey Rybin) , "Tell me, why, beautiful maiden", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Pourquoi, dis-moi, belle jeune fille", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Hans Schmidt) , "Sag warum"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-13
Line count: 14
Word count: 73

Tell me, why, beautiful maiden

Language: English after the Russian (Русский)

Tell me, why, beautiful maiden, 
You sit so sorrowfully
And look, sighing, silently at the road
Peering away in the distance? 
Is he not near you, your dear one, 
Or has his fervent blood cooled down?
Has he grown bored of you,
Or forgotten you, your heart's friend? 

No, my dear friend has not forgotten me,
It is not that which makes my poor heart ache - 
But to far away lands, 
On a long journey I’m sending off my dear one, 
To far away lands, 
On a long journey I’m sending him.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Russian (Русский) to English copyright © 2015 by Sergey Rybin, (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) possibly by Aleksey Vasil'yevich Kol'tsov (1808 - 1842) and possibly by Modest Petrovich Musorgsky (1839 - 1881) and possibly by Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799 - 1837)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-10-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 92