Gleich einem Brief | Gleich einem Brief, den im Kamin

by Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev (1803 - 1873)

Translation Singable translation by Bruno Tutenberg (1887 - 1968)

Как над горячею золой

Language: Russian (Русский)

Our translations: ENG FRE

Как над горячею золой
Дымится свиток и сгорает,
И огнь сокрытый и глухой
Слова и строки пожирает:

Так грустно тлится жизнь моя
И с каждым днём уходит дымом;
Так постепенно гасну я
В однообразьи нестерпимом...

О, небо, если бы хоть раз
Сей пламень развился по воле,
И, не томясь, не мучась доле,
Я просиял бы и погас!

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Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

by Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev (1803 - 1873) [author's text not yet checked 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 Mikhail Vasilyevich Antsev (1865 - 1945), "Как над горячею золой" [sung text not yet checked]
by Georgi Lvovitch Catoire (1861 - 1926), "Как над горячею золой", op. 19 no. 1, published 1909 [ voice and piano ], from 4 Стихотворения Тютчева, no. 1, Moscow, Bernard [sung text checked 1 time]
by Gennady Osipovich Korganov (1858 - 1890), "Как над горячею золой" [sung text not yet checked]
by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893), "Как над горячею золой", op. 25 (Шесть романсов = Shest' romansov (Six romances)) no. 2 (1874) [sung text checked 1 time]
by Julia Weissberg (1878 - 1942), "Как над горячею золой" [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Jacob Wilde) , "As over the burning ashes", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Bruno Tutenberg) , "Gleich einem Brief"

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: 57

Gleich einem Brief

Language: German (Deutsch) after the Russian (Русский)

Gleich einem Brief, den im Kamin 
der Asche tief verborgne Gluten,
sich jäh entfachend, aufwärts ziehn
und dann vernichtend überfluten:
So glimmt mein Leben jetzt dahin
und wird vom Rauche fortgetragen.
Ich sterbe, so kann nicht mein Sinn
das ewig Gleiche mehr ertragen.
O Himmel, könnte bloß einmal 
sich frei entfalten dieses Schwellen,
dann würd ich, ohne mich zu quälen,
vergehn als leuchten heller Strahl.

From a Tchaikovsky score.

Text Authorship:

Singable translation by Bruno Tutenberg (1887 - 1968), "Gleich einem Brief" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Russian (Русский) by Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev (1803 - 1873)
- 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):

[ None yet in the database ]

Researcher for this page: Harry Joelson

This text was added to the website: 2011-01-12
Line count: 12
Word count: 65