Burnt letter | Farewell, letter of love! Farewell: she commanded it

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by Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799 - 1837)

Translation © by Sergey Rybin

Сожжённое письмо

Language: Russian (Русский)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Прощай, письмо любви! прощай: она велела.
Как долго медлил я, как долго не хотела
Рука предать огню все радости мои!..
Но полно, час настал. Гори, письмо любви. 
Готов я; ничему душа моя не внемлет.
[Уж пламя жадное листы твои приемлет...]¹
Минуту!.. вспыхнули! пылают -- лёгкий дым 
Виясь теряется с молением моим.
[Уж перстня верного утратя впечатленье,
Растопленный сургуч кипит... О провиденье!]²
Свершилось! Тёмные свернулися листы;
На лёгком пепле их заветные черты 
Белеют... Грудь моя стеснилась. Пепел милый,
Отрада бедная в судьбе моей унылой,
Останься век со мной на горестной груди...

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• C. Cui

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Александр Сергеевич Пушкин, Стихотворения 1825, ФЭБ (1947).

¹ Omitted by Cui.

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Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

by Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799 - 1837), "Сожжённое письмо", written 1825, first published 1825 [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 César Antonovich Cui (1835 - 1918), "Сожжённое письмо", op. 33 no. 4 (1885-1886), published 1886 [ voice and piano ], St. Petersburg: Bessel [sung text checked 1 time]
by Samuil Yevgenyevich Feinberg (1890 - 1962), "Сожжённое письмо", op. 26 (Восемь романсов на слова А. Пушкина (Vosem' romansov na slova A. Pushkina) = Eight romances on words by A. Pushkin) no. 7 (1935-36), published 1937 [ voice and piano ], Moscow: Muzgiz [sung text not yet checked]
by Aleksandr Borisovich Matyukhin (b. 1947), "Сожжённое письмо" [sung text not yet checked]
by Platon Iliaronovich Mayboroda (b. 1918), "Сожжённое письмо" [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in Ukrainian (Українська), a translation by Oleksandr Andriyovych Gryaznov (1940 - 2021) , "Спалений лист" ; composed by Heorhiy Ilarionovych Maiboroda.

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

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Yuri Mitelman , Guy Laffaille [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 91

Burnt letter

Language: English after the Russian (Русский)

Farewell, letter of love! Farewell: she commanded it.
How long I've delayed, how long resisted my hand
Giving all my joys to fire!..
But enough, the moment has come. Burn, letter of love.
I'm ready, my soul is deaf to everything.
Already a greedy flame receives your sheets…
A minute… they catch fire! They burn -- light smoke 
Disappears in a curl, together with my prayer. 
Already the impression of a trusted signet is vanishing, 
The melted wax is bubbling… Oh providence!
It's done. Dark pages are curled up;
Light ashes carry the dear features 
As white flakes… my breast constricts. Dear ashes, 
Poor joy in my gloomy life, 
Stay forever on my sombre chest.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Russian (Русский) to English copyright © 2023 by Sergey Rybin, (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 Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799 - 1837), "Сожжённое письмо", written 1825, first published 1825
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2023-10-08
Line count: 15
Word count: 114