by Mikhail Yur'yevich Lermontov (1814 - 1841)
Translation by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
По небу полуночи ангел летел
Language: Russian (Русский)
По небу полуночи ангел летел, И тихую песню он пел; И месяц, и звёзды, и тучи толпой Внимали той песне святой. Он пел о блаженстве безгрешных духов Под кущами райских садов; О боге великом он пел, и хвала Его непритворна была. Он душу младую в объятиях нёс Для мира печали и слёз; И звук его песни в душе молодой Остался -- без слов, но живой. И долго на свете томилась она, Желанием чудным полна, И [звуков]1 небес заменить не могли Ей скучные песни земли.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with М. Ю. Лермонтов, Сочинения Том 1; Москва Издательство "Правда", 1988 (M. Yu. Lermontov: Works, Volume 1; Moscow; "Truth" Publishers)
See also Tolstoy's poem Горними тихо летела душа небесами.
1 Gretchaninov: "pesen"Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST
Note on TransliterationsText Authorship:
- by Mikhail Yur'yevich Lermontov (1814 - 1841), "Ангел", first published 1831 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Leslie Crabtree (b. 1941), "Ангел", 2009 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Georgy Vasilyevich Got (1861 - 1917), "Ангел" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Aleksandr Tikhonovich Gretchaninov (1864 - 1956), "По небу полуночи ангел летел", op. 114 no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Yuly Antonovich Kapri (1831 - 1918), "Ангел" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nikolai Mikhailovich Ladukhin (1860 - 1918), "Ангел", 1894 [ mixed chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (1880 - 1951), "Ангел", op. 1bis [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Eduard Frantsevich Nápravník (1839 - 1916), "Ангел", op. 63 no. 1 (1898) [ mixed chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sergei Vasil'yevich Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943), "Ангел", op. 15 no. 6 (1895), published 1895 [ women's chorus (or children's chorus) and piano ], from Шесть хоров для женских или детских голосов (Shest' khorov dlja zhenskikh ili detskikh golosov) = Six choruses for women's or children's voices, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 - 1908), "По небу полуночи", op. 40 (Четыре романса (Chetyre romansa)) no. 2 (1897), also set in French (Français) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (1829 - 1894), "Ангел", op. 48 no. 1 (1852) [ duet for alto and soprano with piano ], from Двенадцать дуэтов (Dvenadcat' du`etov) = Twelve duets, no. 1, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alexander Nikolayevich Serov (1820 - 1871), "Ангел" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020), "Ангел", op. 153 no. 2 (2007), published 2008 [ voice and cello ], from Odinokij strannik, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Vladimir Timofeyevich Sokolov (1830 - 1890), "Ангел" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Maximilian Oseyevich Steinberg (1883 - 1946), "Ангел", 1900 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nikolay Mikhailovich Strelnikov (1888 - 1939), "Ангел" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Aleksandr Yegorovich Varlamov (1801 - 1848), "Ангел", 1843 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by F. A. Zaikin , "Ангел" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Visily Aleksandrovich Zhdanov (1845 - 1910), "Ангел" [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , "The Angel" ; composed by Tina Andersson.
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by G. Jorissenne ; composed by Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov.
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Catulle Mendès (1841 - 1909) , "L'ange et l'âme", appears in Petits poèmes russes, in 5. Lermontov, no. 3, Paris, G. Charpentier et E. Fasquelle, first published 1893 ; composed by Camille Erlanger.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), [adaptation] ; composed by Paul Frommer, Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Eduard Erdmann.
- Also set in Spanish (Español), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Manuel M. Ponce.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Dmitri Smirnov) , "The angel", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Martha Gilbert Dickinson Bianchi) , "The angel", appears in Russian Lyrics, first published 1916
- ENG English (Sergey Rybin) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Anonymous/Unidentified Artist) , "L'ange"
- GER German (Deutsch) (Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt) , "Der Engel"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 84
The Angel
Language: English after the Russian (Русский)
Out of the midnight sky an angel soars, silently down towards the earth, but the moon and the clouds upon their nightly watch, perceive his celestial song. He sings of the sin free souls and how they dwell in peace, within the paradise garden groves. He sings of the Lord almighty and his praise flows through this night asleep. He carries in his arms a restless soul to life’s despair and faults, but something in his song remains, in wordless keep, within the soul. And long she suffers in this world of despair but with a strange yearning worn, and never it fades, that tone from God, with its mournful sounds of the world.
Text Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, "The Angel" [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Russian (Русский) by Mikhail Yur'yevich Lermontov (1814 - 1841), "Ангел", first published 1831
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Tina Andersson (b. 1966), "The Angel", 2011, copyright © 2012, first performed 2011 [ 2 sopranos, satb chorus ], Gehrmans
Publisher: Gehrmans [external link] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2026-03-04
Line count: 16
Word count: 114