LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,103)
  • Text Authors (19,448)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

by Mikhail Yur'yevich Lermontov (1814 - 1841)
Translation Singable translation by Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1819 - 1892)

Кинжал
Language: Russian (Русский) 
Люблю тебя, булатный мой кинжал,
Товарищ светлый и холодный.
Задумчивый грузин на месть тебя ковал,
На грозный бой точил черкес свободный.

[Лилейная]1 рука тебя мне поднесла
В знак памяти в минуту расставанья,
И в первый раз не кровь вдоль по тебе текла,
Но светлая слеза, жемчужина страданья.

И чёрные глаза, остановясь на мне,
Исполнены таиственной печали,
Как сталь твоя при трепетном огне,
То вдруг тускнели, то сверкали.

Ты дан мне в спутники, любви залог немой,
И страннику в тебе пример не бесполезный,
Да, я не изменюсь и буду тверд душой,
Как ты, как ты, мой друг железный!

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   C. Cui 

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Cui: "Lilejcaja"

Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST

Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

  • by Mikhail Yur'yevich Lermontov (1814 - 1841), "Кинжал", written 1838 [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), "Кинжал", op. 49 (Семь романсов = Sem' romansov (Seven romances)) no. 7 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Karl Yulyevich Davidov (1838 - 1889), "Кинжал" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Grigory (German) Semyonovich Gamburg (1900 - 1967), "Кинжал" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Yuly Antonovich Kapri (1831 - 1918), "Кинжал" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Boris Sergeyevich Maizel' (b. 1907), "Кинжал" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by A. Maklakov , "Кинжал" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Sergey Vladimirovich Protopopov (1883 - 1954), "Кинжал" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (1829 - 1894), "Кинжал", op. 36 (Zwölf Lieder aus dem Russischem von F. Bodenstedt) no. 5 (1849-51) [ voice and piano ], Wien, Spina, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Dmitry Fyodorovich Tarkhov (1890 - 1966), "Кинжал" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Anatoly Georgievich Umantsev (b. 1940), "Кинжал" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Sergey Nikiforovich Vasilenko (1872 - 1956), "Кинжал" [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1819 - 1892) , "Der Dolch", appears in Russische Dichter, first published 1866 ; composed by Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein.
      • Go to the text.

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

  • ENG English (Martha Gilbert Dickinson Bianchi) , "The dagger", 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: 16
Word count: 98

Der Dolch
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the Russian (Русский) 
Ich lieb es, deinen kalten Glanz zu sehn,
Mein Dolch, mein Kampfgenoß, mein treuer Diener!
Zum wilden Kampfe schliff dich der Tschetschen,
Dich schmiedete zur Rache der Grusiner!

Es schenkte eine Lilienhand dich mir,
Als mich ihr Arm zum Letztenmal umschlossen,
Und - statt des Bluts - zum Erstenmal auf dir
Um mich geweinte Thränenperlen flössen.

Ihr schwarzes Auge in der Schmerzensflut
Bald trüb sich schloß, bald blendend funkelte:
Gleichwie dein Eisen bei des Feuers Glut
Bald Blitze warf, bald sich verdunkelte.

Zum Pfande treuer Liebe weihte mir
Ihr Auge dich, das thränenfeucht verklärte:
Drum liebend ewig treu sein will ich ihr,
Ja, fest wie du, mein eiserner Gefährte!  

Text Authorship:

  • Singable translation by Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1819 - 1892), "Der Dolch", 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), "Кинжал", written 1838
    • 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 Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (1829 - 1894), "Der Dolch", op. 36 (Zwölf Lieder aus dem Russischem von F. Bodenstedt) no. 5 (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: 16
Word count: 107

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris