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by Federico García Lorca (1898 - 1936)
Translation by Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva (1892 - 1941)

La guitarra
Language: Spanish (Español) 
Our translations:  ENG FRE
Empieza el llanto
de la guitarra.
Se rompen las copas
de la madrugada.
Empieza el llanto
de la guitarra.
Es inútil callarla.
Es imposible
callarla.
Llora monótona
como llora el agua,
como llora el viento
sobre la nevada.
Es imposible
callarla.
Llora por cosas
lejanas.
Arena del Sur caliente
que pide camelias blancas.
Llora flecha sin blanco,
la tarde sin mañana,
y el primer pájaro muerto
sobre la rama.
¡Oh, guitarra!
Corazón malherido
por cinco espadas.

Text Authorship:

  • by Federico García Lorca (1898 - 1936), "La guitarra", appears in Poema del Cante Jondo, in Poema de la siguiriya gitana , no. 2, first published 1921 [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 Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "La guitarra", from Romancero Gitano, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Ramiro Cortés (1933 - 1984), "La guitarra", from Three Spanish Songs, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Ferenc Farkas (1905 - 2000), "La guitarra", 1986 [ voice and guitar ], unpublished [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Ferenc Farkas (1905 - 2000), "La guitarra", 1986 [ voice and 2 guitars ], unpublished [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Alex Taylor , "La Guitarra", first performed 2020 [ tenor, cello, percussion ], from Poema de La Siguiriya Gitana, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva (1892 - 1941) , "Гитара" ; composed by Aleksandr Borisovich Matyukhin.
    • Go to the text.

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

  • ENG English (Richard Gard) , "The guitar", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "La guitare", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: Ivo Zandhuis

This text was added to the website: 2005-01-11
Line count: 26
Word count: 76

Gitara
Language: Russian (Русский)  after the Spanish (Español) 
Nachinaetsya
Plach gitary',
Razbivaetsya
Chasha utra.
Nachinaetsya
Plach gitary'.
O, ne zhdi ot neyo
Molchan`ya,
Ne prosi u neyo
Molchan`ya!
Gitara plachet,
Kak voda po naklonam — plachet,
Kak vetra nad snegami — plachet,
Ne moli eyo
O molchan`i!
Tak plachet zakat o rassvete,
Tak plachet strela bez celi,
Tak pesok raskalyonny'j plachet
O proxladnoj krase kamelij,
Tak proshhaetsya s zhizn`yu pticza
Pod ugrozoj zmeinogo zhala.
O, gitara,
Bednaya zhertva
Pyati provorny'x kinzhalov!

Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST

Note on Transliterations

Show untransliterated (original) text

Text Authorship:

  • by Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva (1892 - 1941), "Гитара" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Spanish (Español) by Federico García Lorca (1898 - 1936), "La guitarra", appears in Poema del Cante Jondo, in Poema de la siguiriya gitana , no. 2, first published 1921
    • 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 Aleksandr Borisovich Matyukhin (b. 1947), "Гитара" [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2021-08-14
Line count: 24
Word count: 73

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