Oh, if only you could | Oh, if only you could even for a single moment

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by Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Count (1817 - 1875)

Translation © by Carl Ratner

О если б ты могла хоть на единый миг

Language: Russian (Русский)

Available translation(s): ENG

О если б ты могла хоть на единый миг
Забыть свою печаль, забыть свои невзгоды, 
О, если бы хоть раз я твой увидел лик,
Каким я знал его в счастливейшие годы!

Когда в [твоих глазах]¹ засветится слеза,
О, если б эта грусть могла пройти порывом,
Как в теплую весну пролётная гроза,
Как тень от облаков, бегущая по нивам!

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View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Tchaikovsky: "глазах твоих" (glazakh tvojikh)

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Note on Transliterations

Authorship:

by Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Count (1817 - 1875), no title [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 Akhilles Nikolayevich Alferaki (1846 - 1919), "О, если б ты могла" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Pavel Ivanovich Blaramberg (1841 - 1907), "О, если б ты могла" [sung text not yet checked]
by Feliks Mikhailovich Blumenfeld (1863 - 1931), "О если б ты могла", op. 30 no. 4, published 1900 [ voice and piano ], from Souvenir de Kozatskoé, no. 4, Leipzig, Belaieff [sung text not yet checked]
by Sigizmund Mikhailovich Blumenfel'd (1852 - 1920), "О если б ты могла", op. 14 (3 Романса с сопровождением фортепиано (3 Romansa s soprovozhdenijem fortepiano)) no. 3 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Belaieff [sung text not yet checked]
by Pallady Andreyevich Bogdanov (1881 - 1971), "О! если б ты могла" [sung text not yet checked]
by Erazm Rafal Dłuski (1857 - 1923), "О, если б ты могла", published 1895 [ voice and piano ], from Романсы, Песни (Romansy, Pesni) [1895], no. 10, Moscow, A. Gutheil [sung text not yet checked]
by Aleksandr Borisovich Goldenveizer (1875 - 1961), "О, если б ты могла" [sung text not yet checked]
by Boleslav Viktorovich Grodzky (1865 - 1923), "О, если б ты могла" [sung text not yet checked]
by Mikhail Mikhailovich Ippolitov-Ivanov (1859 - 1935), "О, если б ты могла", op. 5 (Четыре романса) no. 3 (1882), published 1886 [ voice and piano ], St. Petersburg: W. Bessel & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
by Viktor Stepanovych Kosenko (1896 - c1938), "О, если б ты могла" [sung text not yet checked]
by Klaus Miehling (b. 1963), "О если б ты могла хоть", op. 301 no. 3 (2019) [ voice and piano ], from 20 Lieder nach Alexei K. Tolstoi, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by Semyon Viktorovich Panchenko (1867 - 1937), "О, если б ты могла" [sung text not yet checked]
by Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 - 1908), "О, если б ты могла", op. 39 (Четыре романса (Chetyre romansa)) no. 1 (1897), also set in French (Français) [sung text checked 1 time]
by Nikolay Vladimirovich Shcherbachyov (1853 - 1922), "О если б ты могла", op. 24 (Six Mélodies pour Chant et Piano) no. 1, published 1893 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Belaieff, also set in French (Français) [sung text not yet checked]
by Aleksandr Nikolayevich Shefer (1866 - 1914), "О, если б ты могла" [sung text not yet checked]
by Anton Yulyevich Simon (1850 - 1916), "О, если б ты могла", op. 45 (Девять романсов) no. 3 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Aleksey Vladimirovich Taskin (1871 - 1942), "О, если б ты могла" [sung text not yet checked]
by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893), "О, если б ты могла", op. 38 (Шесть романсов = Shest' romansov (Six romances)) no. 4 (1878) [ baritone and piano ], also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in French (Français), a translation by G. Jorissenne ; composed by Nikolay Vladimirovich Shcherbachyov.
Also set in French (Français), a translation by G. Jorissenne ; composed by Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov.
Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , no title ; composed by Max Lippold, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

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

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 58

Oh, if only you could

Language: English after the Russian (Русский)

Oh, if only you could even for a single moment
Forget your sorrow, forget your troubles;
Oh, if only I could see your face just once
As I knew it in happier days!

When a tear glistens in your eye,
O, if only this sadness could quickly pass by,
Like a fleeting storm in the warm spring,
Like the shadow of clouds, running over the cornfields!

Authorship:

Translation from Russian (Русский) to English copyright © 2010 by Carl Ratner, (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.
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Based on:

a text in Russian (Русский) by Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Count (1817 - 1875), no title

This text was added to the website: 2010-12-02
Line count: 8
Word count: 66