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It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

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by Arseny Arkad'yevich Golenishchev-Kutuzov (1848 - 1913)
Translation © by Sergey Rybin

Элегия
Language: Russian (Русский) 
Our translations:  ENG FRE GER GER
В тумане дремлет ночь. Безмолвная звезда 
Сквозь дымку облаков мерцает одиноко.
Звенят бубенцами уныло и далеко
Коней пасущихся стада.
Как ночи облака, изменчивые думы 
Несутся надо мной, тревожны и угрюмы; 
В них отблески надежд, когда-то дорогих, 
Давно потерянных, давно уж не живых.
В них сожаления... и слёзы.
Несутся думы те без цели и конца,
То, превратясь в черты любимого лица,
Зовут, рождая вновь в душе былые грёзы:
То, слившись в черный мрак, полны немой угрозы
Грядущего борьбой пугают робкий ум,
И слышится вдали. Нестройной жизни шум,
Толпы бездушной смех, вражды коварный ропот,
Житейской мелочи назаглушимый шопот,
Унылый смерти звон!... 
Предвестница звезда, как будто полная стыда,
Скрывает светлый лик в тумане безотрадном,
Как будущность моя, немом и непроглядном.

Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST

Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

  • by Arseny Arkad'yevich Golenishchev-Kutuzov (1848 - 1913) [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 Modest Petrovich Musorgsky (1839 - 1881), "Элегия", 1874, published 1874, from Без солнца = Bez solnca, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (Sergey Rybin) , "Elegy", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Élégie", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Frieder Anders) , "Elegie", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Elegie", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 21
Word count: 117

Elegy
Language: English  after the Russian (Русский) 
In the mist the night is in slumber. Silent star
Flickering, lonely, through the veil of clouds. 
Sorrowfully ringing their bells in the distance, 
Herds of grazing horses.
As night clouds my changing thoughts
Fly above me, disturbed and gloomy;
There are gleams of hopes in them, which were once dear, 
Which are long lost, long dead.
There are regrets in them... and tears.
Thoughts rush along endlessly;
At times, transformed into features of a loved face, 
They call for me, awakening in my soul former dreams again, 
At times, merged into black darkness, full of silent threat, 
Frighten my timid mind with the future's struggle,  
And I hear in the distance life's discordant noise, 
Laughter of the soulless crowd, the muttering of treacherous feuding, 
The irrepressible whisper of life's banality,
And the grim ringing of death!..
A rising star, as if full of shyness, 
Is hiding her bright face in a joyless mist, 
Like my future, mute and impenetrable.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Russian (Русский) to English copyright © 2011 by Sergey Rybin, (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.
    Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in Russian (Русский) by Arseny Arkad'yevich Golenishchev-Kutuzov (1848 - 1913)
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2011-06-19
Line count: 21
Word count: 160

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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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