LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,139)
  • Text Authors (19,558)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

×

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.

by Ivan Zakharovich Surikov (1841 - 1880)
Translation © by Laura Prichard

Ласточка
Language: Russian (Русский)  after the Polish (Polski) 
Our translations:  ENG FRE
Идёт девочка – сиротка, 
	тяжело вздыхает,
а над нею горемычной,
	ласточка летает.

И летает, и щебечет,
	над головкой вьётся,
вьётся, крошка, и крылами
	в косу чуть не бьётся.

"Что ты вьёшься надо мною,
	над сироткой, пташка?
Ах, оставь меня, – и так мне
	жить на свете тяжко!"

– Не оставлю, не оставлю! 
	Буду я кружиться, –
щебетать тебе про брата,
	что в тюрьме томится.

Он просил меня: “Слетай-ка,	
	пташка, в край родимый,
поклонись моей сестрице,
	горячо любимой.

Все ль меня она, голубка,
	добром вспоминает?
все ль она ещё о брате
	слёзы проливает?”

Note (provided by Laura Prichard): Although this is an adaptation of Teofil Lenartowicz’s poem “Jaskółka” (Swallow), in the Russian version, Ivan Surikov transforms the girl from a carefree, pretty village girl to an abandoned orphan. Both Tchaikovsky and Taneyev referred to this song in their letters as “сиротка” (“orphan girl”). Surikov also chose to omit part of the brother’s (Polish) question: “Does she still wear a white rose in her hair?”– this image would not be consistent with the uses and colors of symbolic flowers in Russian folk peotry.


Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST

Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

  • by Ivan Zakharovich Surikov (1841 - 1880), "Ласточка" [an adaptation] [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Polish (Polski) by Teofil Lenartowicz (1822 - 1893), "Jaskółka [II]"
    • Go to the text page.

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

  • by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893), "Ласточка", op. 54 (Шестнадцать песен для детей = Shestnadcat' pesen dlja detej (Sixteen songs for children)) no. 15 (1883), also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Hans Schmidt (1854 - 1923) ; composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
      • 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 (Laura Prichard) , "The swallow", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "L'hirondelle", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Laura Prichard [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-03
Line count: 24
Word count: 92

The swallow
Language: English  after the Russian (Русский) 
There goes a little girl – an orphan, 
	Breathing heavy sighs,
And over her unlucky head,
	A little swallow flies.

And flies, and chirps,
	Circling overhead,
Fluttering over the little mite of a child, with its wings
	Nearly beating against her braid.

“Why do you flutter over me,
	over a poor orphan, little bird?
Oh, leave me alone, – for me
	it’s so hard to live in this world!"

– Don’t leave, don’t leave!
	I’ll fly around, –
And twitter to you about your brother,
	Who is languishing in prison.

He asked me: “Fly on,	
	little bird, to that dear place,
Send my regards to my sister,
	My favorite and best beloved.

May I only have left to give to her, little dove,
	A few good memories?
Is only thing her brother can give to her
	The tears he sheds?” 

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Russian (Русский) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura 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.
    Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in Russian (Русский) by Ivan Zakharovich Surikov (1841 - 1880), "Ласточка" [an adaptation]
    • Go to the text page.

Based on:

  • a text in Polish (Polski) by Teofil Lenartowicz (1822 - 1893), "Jaskółka [II]"
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2016-10-23
Line count: 24
Word count: 140

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris