Тучки небесные, вечные странники! Степью лазурною, цепью жемчужною Мчитесь вы, будто как я же, изгнанники С милого севера в сторону южную.1 Кто же вас гонит: судьбы ли решение? Зависть ли тайная? злоба ль открытая? Или на вас тяготит преступление? Или друзей клевета ядовитая?2 Нет, вам наскучили нивы бесплодные... Чужды вам страсти и чужды страдания; Вечно холодные, вечно свободные, Нет у вас родины, нет вам изгнания.
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View original text (without footnotes)Note: an earlier spelling of "небесные" is "небесныя", still preserved in some of the titles below.
1 Sviridov adds: "/ Мчитесь вы, тучки небесные." (from stanza 1)2 Sviridov adds
Тучки небесные, мчитесь вы, Вечные, вечные странники! Кто же вас гонит: судьбы ли решение? Зависть ли тайная? Тучки небесные, вечные странники!
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Note on TransliterationsText Authorship:
- by Mikhail Yur'yevich Lermontov (1814 - 1841), "Тучи", first published 1840 [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 Irina Vladimirovna Arseyeva (1941 - 1999), "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Boris Vladimirovich Asafiev (1884 - 1949), "Тучи", from Liricheskije Stranicy (na temu "Odinochestvo Lermontova"), no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Pavel Ivanovich Blaramberg (1841 - 1907), "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Fyodor Fyodorovich Bogdanov (b. 1904), "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nikolai Nikolayevich Cherepnin (1873 - 1945), "Тучки небесныя", op. 2 (2 хора для смешанных голосов a cappella (2 khora dlja smeshannykh golosov a cappella)) no. 2 [ mixed chorus a cappella ], Leipzig, Belaieff [sung text not yet checked]
- by César Antonovich Cui (1835 - 1918), "Тучи", op. 19 (Семь романсов и дуэтов = Sem' romansov i du`etov (Seven romances and duets)) no. 6 (1881), published 1881 [ vocal duet with piano ], St Petersburg, Bessel [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Aleksandr Sergeyevich Dargomyzhsky (1813 - 1869), "Тучки небесные" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Anton Antonovich Derfeldt (1810 - 1869), "Тучки небесные" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Yosif Yosifovich Genishta (1795 - 1853), "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Vladimir Sergeyevich Ivannikov (1906 - 1987), "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sergey Fyodorovich Kaidan-Deshkin (1901 - 1972), "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Pavel Aleksandrovich Kavelin (1834 - 1909), "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Grigory Grigoryevich Lobachev (1888 - 1953), "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gavriil Yakimovich Lomakin (1812 - 1885), "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sergey Mikhailovich Lyapunov (1859 - 1924), "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Aleksandr Borisovich Matyukhin (b. 1947), "Тучки небесные" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Olga Vasilyevna Nikolskaya (b. 1916), "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nikolai Platonovich Ogaryov (1813 - 1877), "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Aleksandr Alekseyevich Olenin (1865 - 1944), "Тучки небесные", op. 24 (Пять песен для голоса с фортепиано (Pjat' pesen dlja golosa s fortepiano)) no. 2, published 1924 [ voice and piano ], Moscow, Gos. Izdatelstvo Muz. Sektor [sung text not yet checked]
- by Aleksandr Petrov , "Тучки небесные" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Aleksei Alekseyevich Petrov (1859 - 1919), "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ivan Alexandrovich Pomazansky (1848 - 1918), "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sergey Alekseyevich Razoryonov (1909 - 1996), "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 - 1908), "Тучи небесныя", op. 13 (2 трехголосных женских хора (2 trekhgolosnykh zhenskikh khora)) no. 1 [ three-part women's chorus and harmonium or fortepiano ad libitum ], Leipzig, Belaieff [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (1829 - 1894), "Тучи", op. 36 (Zwölf Lieder aus dem Russischem von F. Bodenstedt) no. 4 (1849-51) [ voice and piano ], Wien, Spina, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Fyodor Ivanovich Silin , "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Mikhail Nikolayevich Simansky (1910 - 2002), "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020), "Тучи", op. 159 no. 2 (2009) [ voice and violoncello ], from Ot sosny do luny, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Vladimir Timofeyevich Sokolov (1830 - 1890), "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Konstantin Nikolayevich Startsev , "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Georgiy Vasil'yevich Sviridov (1915 - 1998), "Тучи" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Aleksandr Yegorovich Varlamov (1801 - 1848), "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Vasily Alekseyevich Vonlyarlyarsky (1814 - 1853), "Тучки небесные" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nikolay Ivanovich Zabusov , "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
- by F. A. Zaikin , "Тучи" [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (1802 - 1870) , "Les nuages", appears in Impressions de voyage, Paris, Éd. Michel Lévy frères, first published 1865 ; composed by Jules Bouval.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1819 - 1892) , "Die Wolken", appears in Russische Dichter, first published 1866 ; composed by Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CHI Chinese (中文) (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English [singable] (Dmitri Smirnov) , "The clouds", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Martha Gilbert Dickinson Bianchi) , "To the clouds", appears in Russian Lyrics, first published 1916
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: 65
Wolken am Himmelszelt, ewige Wanderer, Die über Berg und Thal ohne Ermüden ziehn: Floht ihr den Steppenhord, lockt euch ein anderer, Müßt ihr, verbannt wie ich, mit mir zum Süden ziehn? Sagt, was verbannt euch: des Schicksals Gerechtigkeit, Eines Verbrechens Fluch, der unversöhnlich ist? Heimlicher Neid und Trug, offene Schlechtigkeit, Heuchelnder Freunde List, wie sie gewöhnlich ist? Nein! Ihr entflieht nur dem fruchtleeren Lande hier, Frei seid ihr jeglicher fesselnder Spannung Qual, Kennt keine Leidenschaft, kennt keine Bande hier, Kennt keiner Heimat Glück, keiner Verbannung Qual!
Text Authorship:
- Singable translation by Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1819 - 1892), "Die Wolken", appears in Russische Dichter, first published 1866 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Russian (Русский) by Mikhail Yur'yevich Lermontov (1814 - 1841), "Тучи", first published 1840
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (1829 - 1894), "Die Wolken", op. 36 (Zwölf Lieder aus dem Russischem von F. Bodenstedt) no. 4 (1849-51) [ voice and piano ], Wien, Spina, also set in Russian (Русский) [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Harry Joelson
This text was added to the website: 2011-06-25
Line count: 12
Word count: 87