La bonne vie | Les vastes champs, chers amis

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by Semyon Olender (1907 - 1969)

Translation © by Guy Laffaille

Хорошая жизнь

Language: Russian (Русский) after the Yiddish (יידיש)

Our translations: FRE

О поле просторном, друзья дорогие,
Песен не пел я в годы глухие.
Не для меня поля расцветали,
Не для меня росинки стекали.

В тесном подвале во тьме сырой
Жил я когда-то, измучен нуждой.
И грустная песня неслась из подвала
О горе, о муке моей небывалой.

Колхозная речка, струись веселее;
Друзьям передай мой поклон поскорее.
Скажи, что в колхозе теперь мой дом,
Цветущее дерево стоит под окном.

Теперь для меня поля расцветают,
Меня молоком и мёдом питают.
Я счастлив, а ты расскажи моим братьям:
Колхозным полям буду песни слагать я!

Note: input from a monograph by Prof. Joachim Braun.

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Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

by Semyon Olender (1907 - 1969) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Yiddish (יידיש) from Volkslieder (Folksongs) , "Vegn rokhves fun felder", Jewish folk poetry.
- 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 Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (1906 - 1975), "Хорошая жизнь", op. 79 no. 9 (1948), first performed 1955 [ tenor and piano ], from Из Еврейской Народной Поэзии = Iz Jevrejskoj Narodnoj Po`ezii (From Jewish Folk Poetry), no. 9, note: orchestrated as op. 79a [sung text checked 1 time]

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

FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "La bonne vie", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: John Burke

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-02
Line count: 16
Word count: 89

La bonne vie

Language: French (Français) after the Russian (Русский)

Les vastes champs, chers amis,
jamais je ne les ai chantés pendant les années sombres.
Jamais pour moi les champs n'ont fleuri,
jamais pour moi la rosée n'est tombée.

Dans une cave étroite, dans le noir et l'humidité,
je vivais, tourmenté par la pauvreté,
et un chant triste s'élevait de ma cave
plein de chagrin et de douleur au delà des mots.

Rivière du kolkhoze, coule joyeusement,
porte mon salut à mes amis aussi vite que tu peux,
dis-leur que ma maison est maintenant au kolkhoze,
qu'un arbre fleuri est devant ma fenêtre.

Les champs fleurissent pour moi maintenant,
le miel et le lait me nourrissent
Je suis heureux, et je dis ceci à mes frères :
je chanterai les champs du kolkhoze !

Text Authorship:

Translation from Russian (Русский) to French (Français) copyright © 2008 by Guy Laffaille, (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 Semyon Olender (1907 - 1969)
- Go to the text page.

Based on:

a text in Yiddish (יידיש) from Volkslieder (Folksongs) , "Vegn rokhves fun felder", Jewish folk poetry.
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2008-07-02
Line count: 16
Word count: 122