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by Vladimir Aleksandrovich Sollogub, Graf (Count) (1813 - 1882)
Translation © by Erkki Pullinen

Скажи, о чём в тени ветвей
Language: Russian (Русский) 
Our translations:  ENG FIN FRE
Скажи, о чём в тени ветвей,
когда природа отдыхает,
поёт весенний соловей
и что он песней выражает?
Что тайно всем волнует кровь?
Скажи, скажи, какое слово
знакомо всем и вечно ново?
Любовь!

Скажи, о чём наедине
в раздумье девушка гадает,
что тайным трепетом во сне
ей страх и радость обещает?
Недуг тот странный назови,
в котором светлая отрада.
Чего ей ждать? Чего ей надо?
Любви!

Когда от жизненной тоски
ты, утомленный, изнываешь
и, злой печали вопреки,
хоть призрак счастья призываешь
что услаждает грудь твою?
Не те ли звуки неземные,
когда услышал ты впервые --
Люблю?!

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   P. Tchaikovsky 

About the headline (FAQ)

Note (provided by Laura Prichard): This text first appears in a one-act “comedy-vaudeville” titled Trouble from a Tender Heart by Count Vladimir Alexandrovich Sollogub (1813-1882) Tchaikovsky knew this text as a young man in St. Petersburg, since he acted in a production of the play in 1860-1861. Much later, he wrote incidental music (now lost) for the same play to be produced at his sister’s estate in Kamenka (Ukraine), and his song for soprano may date from that period.

Text as set by Tchaikovsky:

Скажи, о чём в тени ветвей,
Когда природа отдыхает,
Поёт весенний соловей,
И что он песней выражает?
Что тайно всем волнует кровь?
Скажи, скажи, скажи, какое слово
Знакомо всем и вечно ново?
Любовь, любовь, любовь!

Скажи, о чём наедине,
В раздумье, девушка гадает,
Что тайным трепетом во сне
Ей страх и радость обещает?
Недуг тот странный назови,
В котором светлая отрада,
Чего ей ждать, чего ей надо:
Любви! любви!

Скажи! когда от жизненной тоски
Ты утомленный изнываешь,
И злой печали вопреки
Хоть призрак счастья призываешь!
Что услаждает грудь твою?
Не те ли звуки неземные,
Когда услышал ты впервые
Слова, слова любви! 


Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST

Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

  • by Vladimir Aleksandrovich Sollogub, Graf (Count) (1813 - 1882), no title, appears in Беда от нежного сердца = Beda ot nezhnogo serdca [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 Oskar Karlovich Klemm (1821 - 1891), "Скажи, о чём в тени ветвей" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Vladimir Aleksandrovich Sidorov (b. 1956), "Романс Марии" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893), "Скажи, о чём в тени ветвей", op. 57 (Шесть романсов = Shest' romansov (Six romances)) no. 1 (1884), also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Feofil Matveyevich Tolstoy (1809 - 1881), "Скажи, о чём в тени ветвей" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Sofya Aleksandrovna Zybina (d. 1897), "Скажи, о чём в тени ветвей" [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Hans Schmidt (1854 - 1923) ; composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]

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

  • ENG English (Lyle Neff) , "Tell me, in the shadow of the branches", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Dis-moi sous l'ombre des branches", copyright © 2014, (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: 24
Word count: 94

Sano, mistä oksien varjossa
Language: Finnish (Suomi)  after the Russian (Русский) 
Sano, mistä oksien varjossa
luonnon levätessä 
laulaa keväinen satakieli, 
ja mitä se laulullaan ilmentää?
Mikä saa kaikkien veren salaa levottomaksi?
Sano, sano, sano se sana, 
kaikille tuttu ja ikuisesti uusi:
Rakkaus, rakkaus, rakkaus!

Sano, mistä yksinäinen
tyttö mietteissään arvaa, 
mikä salaisin väristyksin, 
lupaa hänelle unessa kauhua ja riemua?
Sairauttako on tuo outo tunne, 
jossa on valoisaa iloa, 
joka häntä odottaa, jota hän tarvitsee? 
Rakkautta, rakkautta!

Sano! Kun elämän tuskasta väsyneenä 
olet menehtymäisilläsi 
ja ilkeätä murhetta vastaan kutsut esiin 
vaikkapa vain onnen harhakuvan...
Mikä rintaasi rauhoittaa? 
Eivätkö vain nuo taivaalliset äänet, 
kuullessasi ensimmäisen kerran
sen sanan, sanan rakkaus!

About the headline (FAQ)

Note: this is a translation of Tchaikovsky's version.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from Russian (Русский) to Finnish (Suomi) copyright © 2011 by Erkki Pullinen, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

    Erkki Pullinen. We have no current contact information for the copyright-holder.
    If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in Russian (Русский) by Vladimir Aleksandrovich Sollogub, Graf (Count) (1813 - 1882), no title, appears in Беда от нежного сердца = Beda ot nezhnogo serdca
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2011-11-15
Line count: 24
Word count: 97

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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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