Rebirth | An artist-barbarian with his lazy brush

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by Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799 - 1837)

Translation © by Tom Kennedy

Возрождение

Language: Russian (Русский)

Our translations: CHI ENG FRE

Художник-варвар кистью сонной
Картину гения чернит
И свой рисунок беззаконный
Над ней бессмысленно чертит.

Но краски чуждые с летами
Спадают ветхой чешуёй;
Созданье гения пред нами
Выходит с прежней красотой.

Так исчезают заблужденья
С измученной души моей,
И возникают в ней виденья
Первоначальных, чистых дней.

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Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

by Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799 - 1837) [author's text not yet checked 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 Boris Alexandrovich Arapov (1905 - 1992), "Возрождение", op. 7 (Романсы на стихи А. С. Пушкина = Romansy na stikhi A. S. Pushkina) no. 1 (1936-7) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (1906 - 1975), "Возрождение", op. 46 no. 1 (1936) [ bass and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , "复活", copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Tom Kennedy) , "Rebirth", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Renaissance", copyright © 2008, (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: 12
Word count: 45

Rebirth

Language: English after the Russian (Русский)

An artist-barbarian with his lazy brush
Blackens the painting of a genius
And senselessly he covers it with 
His own illegitimate drawing.

But with the passing years, the alien colours
Fall off like threadbare scales;
The creation of the genius emerges 
before us in its former beauty

Thus vanish the illusions
From my tormented soul
And in it appear visions
Of original and innocent times.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Russian (Русский) to English copyright © 2008 by Tom Kennedy, (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)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2008-02-25
Line count: 12
Word count: 65