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by Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799 - 1837)
Translation by Martha Gilbert Dickinson Bianchi (1863 - 1943)

Я помню чудное мгновенье
Language: Russian (Русский) 
Our translations:  CHI ENG
Я помню чудное мгновенье:
Передо мной явилась ты,
Как мимолётное, виденье,
Как гений чистой красоты.

В [томленьях]1 грусти безнадежной,
В тревогах шумной суеты,
Звучал мне долго голос нежной,
И снились милые черты.

Шли годы. Бурь порыв мятежный
[Рассеял]2 прежние мечты,
И я забыл твой голос нежный,
Твои небесные черты.

В глуши, во мраке заточенья
Тянулись тихо дни мои;
Без Божества, без вдохновенья,
Без слёз, без жизни, без любви.

Душе настало пробушденье:
И вот опять явилась ты,
Как мимолётное виденье,
Как гений чистой красоты.

И сердце бьётся в [упоенье]3,
И для него воскресил вновь
И божество, и вдохновенье,
И жизнь, и слёзы, и любовь.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   A. Aliabev •   M. Glinka •   N. Titov 

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Glinka: "томленьи" ("tomlen'ji")
2 Aliabev: "Развеял" ("Razvejal")
3 Aliabev, Titov: "упоеньи" ("upojen'ji")

Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST

Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

  • by Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799 - 1837), "К ***", 1825, first published 1827 [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 Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Aliabev (1787 - 1851), "Элегия", published 1832 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Leslie Crabtree (b. 1941), "Я помню чудное мгновенье", 2001 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Samuil Yevgenyevich Feinberg (1890 - 1962), "Я помню чудное мгновенье", op. 26 (Восемь романсов на слова А. Пушкина (Vosem' romansov na slova A. Pushkina) = Eight romances on words by A. Pushkin) no. 6 (1935-36), published 1937 [ voice and piano ], Moscow: Muzgiz [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (1804 - 1857), "Я помню чудное мгновенье", 1840 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Nikolai Aleksandrovich Melgunov (1804 - 1867), "Я помню чудное мгновенье", published 1832 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Nikolai Sergeyevich Titov (1798 - 1843), "Я помню чудное мгновенье", 1829, published 1829 [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in Polish (Polski), a translation by Antanas Baranauskas (1835 - 1902) ; composed by Ignazy Komorowski.
    • Go to the text.

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 (Tom Kennedy) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Martha Gilbert Dickinson Bianchi) , "The vision", 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: 24
Word count: 107

The vision
Language: English  after the Russian (Русский) 
I remember a marvellous instant,
Unto me bending down from above,
Thy radiant vision appearing
As an angel of beauty and love.

'Mid the torments of desperate sadness,
In the torture of bondage and sighs,
To me rang thy voice so beloved -- 
And I dreamed thy miraculous eyes.

But the years rolled along -- and life's tempests
My illusions, my youth overcame,
I forgot that sweet voice full of music -- 
And thy glance like a heavenly flame.

In the covert and grief of my exile,
The days stretched unchanged in their flight,
Bereft inspiration or power,
Bereft both of love and of light.

To my soul now approaches awakening,
To me thou art come from above,
As a radiant and wonderful vision -- 
As an angel of beauty and love.

As before my heart throbs with emotion,
Life looks to me worthy and bright,
And I feel inspiration and power -- 
And again love and tears and the light!

Text Authorship:

  • by Martha Gilbert Dickinson Bianchi (1863 - 1943), "The vision", appears in Russian Lyrics, first published 1916 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Russian (Русский) by Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799 - 1837), "К ***", 1825, first published 1827
    • 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 text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2011-02-02
Line count: 24
Word count: 156

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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

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