Pourquoi ? | Pourquoi ai-je rêvé de toi

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by Lev Aleksandrovich Mey (1822 - 1862)

Translation © by Guy Laffaille

Зачем?

Language: Russian (Русский)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Зачем [ты мне]¹ приснилася,
Красавица далёкая,
И вспыхнула, что в полыме,
Подушка одинокая?

Ох, сгинь ты, полуночница!
Глаза твои ленивые
И пепел кос рассыпчатый,
И губы горделивые -

Всё наяву мне снилося,
И всё, что грёза вешняя,
Умчалося, -- и на сердце
Легла потьма кромешная!

Зачем же ты приснилася,
Красавица далёкая,
Коль стынет вместе с грёзою 
Полушка одинокая?

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• P. Tchaikovsky

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Tchaikovsky: "же ты" (zhe ty)

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Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

by Lev Aleksandrovich Mey (1822 - 1862), "Зачем?", written 1861 [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 Mikhail Mikhailovich Ivanov (1849 - 1927), "Зачем" [sung text not yet checked]
by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893), "Зачем?", op. 28 (Шесть романсов = Shest' romansov (Six romances)) no. 3 (1875) [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "Why?", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Pourquoi ?", copyright © 2016, (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: 16
Word count: 57

Pourquoi ?

Language: French (Français) after the Russian (Русский)

Pourquoi ai-je rêvé de toi,
Beauté lointaine,
Et il brûle, comme s'il était en feu,
Mon oreiller solitaire.

Oh, disparais, vision nocturne !
Tes yeux sont langoureux
Et ta chevelure blond cendré flotte,
Tes lèvres sont hautaines.

Tout ce que j'ai rêvé est vrai au réveil,
Et tout ce  rêve printanier
Disparaît aussitôt, et sur mon cœur
S'étend l'obscurité.

Pourquoi ai-je rêvé de toi,
Beauté lointaine,
Il se refroidit en même temps que mon rêve,
Mon oreiller solitaire.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Russian (Русский) to French (Français) copyright © 2016 by Guy Laffaille, (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) by Lev Aleksandrovich Mey (1822 - 1862), "Зачем?", written 1861
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2016-09-12
Line count: 16
Word count: 77