The muse | When I, all night long, await her arrival

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by Anna Andreyevna Akhmatova (1889 - 1966)

Translation © by Laura Stanfield Prichard

Муза

Language: Russian (Русский)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Когда я ночью жду её прихода,
Жизнь, кажется, висит на волоске.
Что почести, что юность, что свобода
Пред милой гостьей с дудочкой в руке.
И вот вошла. Откинув покрывало,
Внимательно взглянула на меня.
Ей говорю: "Ты ль Данту диктовала
Страницы Ада?" Отвечает: " Я!".

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Text Authorship:

by Anna Andreyevna Akhmatova (1889 - 1966), "Муза", written 1924 [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 John Kenneth Tavener (1944 - 2013), "Муза", subtitle: "The muse", first performed 1993 [ soprano and cello or string quartet ], from Akhmatova Songs, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "The muse", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Muse", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2015-01-12
Line count: 8
Word count: 44

The muse

Language: English after the Russian (Русский)

When I, all night long, await her arrival,
Life seems to hang from a thread.
What is honor, who is youth, what is freedom
For a dear guest with pipe in hand?
And here - she arrives. Veil flung off,
Inquisitively [she] looks at me.
To her I speak: “You dictated to Dante
[The] script of Hades?” She answers: “I [did]!”

Text Authorship:

Translation from Russian (Русский) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura Stanfield Prichard, (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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Based on:

a text in Russian (Русский) by Anna Andreyevna Akhmatova (1889 - 1966), "Муза", written 1924
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2016-06-07
Line count: 8
Word count: 60