The little ring | Little golden ring

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by Aleksey Vasil'yevich Kol'tsov (1808 - 1842)

Translation © by Johann Winkler

Перстенёчек золотой

Language: Russian (Русский)

Our translations: ENG

Перстенёчек золотой,
Ненаглядный, дорогой!
Светлой памяти любви
В очи чёрные гляди.

Если грустно будет ей,
Ты потускни, почерней;
Если радость — изменись,
Весь алмазом разгорись!

День забвенья ли придёт,
Душа чувство [проживёт]¹ —
Тогда, перстень золотой,
[Ты рассыпься]² сам собой!

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• A. Varlamov

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with А. В. Кольцов, Полное собрание стихотворений, Ленинград, Советский писатель, 1958.

¹ Varlamov: "изживёт" ("izzhivjot")
² Varlamov: "Почерней ты" ("Pochernej ty")

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Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

by Aleksey Vasil'yevich Kol'tsov (1808 - 1842), "Перстень", written 1836 [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 Aleksei Vladimirovich Abutkov (1875 - 1945), "Перстенёчек", op. 12 (10 Писен) no. 2 [ voice and piano ], Москва (Moscow), Советвенность Издателя `Симфония' [sung text checked 1 time]
by Konstantin Nikolayevich Bozhanovsky , "Перстенёчек золотой" [sung text not yet checked]
by Yuly Antonovich Kapri (1831 - 1918), "Перстенёчек" [sung text not yet checked]
by Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (1829 - 1894), "Кольцо", op. 27 (Devjat' romansy = Neun Lieder von Kolzoff) no. 5, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text not yet checked]
by Aleksandr Yegorovich Varlamov (1801 - 1848), "Перстенёчек золотой" [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by August von Viedert ; composed by Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein.

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

ENG English [singable] (Constance Bache) (William Stigand, né Stigant) , "The ringlet"

Researcher for this page: Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website: 2020-11-30
Line count: 12
Word count: 42

The little ring

Language: English after the Russian (Русский)

Little golden ring,
you are beloved, you are dear!
With bright remembrance of love
look into black eyes.

When she becomes sad,
then become pale, become black;
when she rejoices, then change
and sparkle like a diamond!

When the day of oblivion comes
and the heart is feeling no more,
then, golden ring,
decay by yourself!

Text Authorship:

Translation from Russian (Русский) to English copyright © 2020 by Johann Winkler, (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 Aleksey Vasil'yevich Kol'tsov (1808 - 1842), "Перстень", written 1836
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2020-11-30
Line count: 12
Word count: 56