Words found here: Песнь Возрождения
Written by: Михаил Юрьевич Лермонтов (1814 - 1841)
В минуту жизни
трудную,
V minutu zhizni trudnuyu,
In time [of] life troubled
(ie, in the troubled time of life)
Теснится ль в
сердце грусть,
Tesnitsya l' v serdtse grust',
Jostle [there]
in heart [a] sadness,
Одну молитву
чудную
Odnu molitvu chudnuyu
One prayer wonderful
Твержу я
наизусть.
Tverzhu ya
naizust'.
Repeat I by rote.
Есть сила
благодатная
Yest' sila blagodatnaya
[There] Is power [of] grace
В созвучье слов живых,
V sozvuch'ye slov zhivykh,
In harmony/consonance [of] words
living
И дышит
непонятная,
I dyshit
neponyatnaya,
And breathes [an] incomprehensible,
Святая прелесть
в них.
Svyataya
prelest' v nikh.
Holy beauty in them.
С души как
бремя скатится,
S dushi kak bremya skatitsya,
From [the] soul as burden
will roll
Сомненье далеко —
Somnen'ye daleko —
Doubt far away
И верится, и плачется,
I veritsya, i plachetsya,
And
it believes, and cries,
И так легко, легко...
I tak legko, legko...
And
so easily, easily...
-------- English Exact, Fits the Music --------
In troubled seasons of my life
When cares will squeeze my soul,
A marv'lous prayer above the strife
I then repeat by rote.
There is a power in this grace—
Accord of living words;
It breathes ineffably in place
Delights most holy stirred.
Then from my soul as burden flies,
All doubts are rolled away—
My heart believes and in faith cries
So lightly, bright as day...
When cares will squeeze my soul,
A marv'lous prayer above the strife
I then repeat by rote.
There is a power in this grace—
Accord of living words;
It breathes ineffably in place
Delights most holy stirred.
Then from my soul as burden flies,
All doubts are rolled away—
My heart believes and in faith cries
So lightly, bright as day...
Another version of this song
A Guitar Trio playing this tune:
Both versions are so beautiful; each is distinctly unique. The vocal harmonies from SOCART are exquisite and the simple, flowing arrangement with strings and piano perfectly fit the second. Thanks for the translation work and posting it all, David!
ReplyDeleteСпасибо!
DeleteВсе во славу Божью.
....how could I leave out the guitar on the 2nd version? Well... I did. I love this swaying arrangement even more than SOCART's Such beauty and pleasure from 2". Thanks for sharing BOTH!
ReplyDeleteAs always, thanks for all your translations, or I'd still be in the dark as to its meaning. Applause! Applause!
Congrat's on the exact fitting English translation version. Good job!
Thank you again.
DeleteI agree: each of these versions has its own beauty.
Все во славу Божью. -- All for the glory of God!
Do you know how легко is pronounced? In SOCART's version, it's so slow and subtle that I can't discern the consonant cluster sound. But in Ксения Лапицкая's version, it sounds like the ГК cluster is being pronounced XK.
ReplyDeleteI know I'm late, but you're correct, the г in легко is pronounced х.
DeleteThe second version, by the way, is the more common melody among Russian Baptists, but Lermontov's poem is well-known enough to have been set to music by many composers (Glinka is the most famous) and is sung not just by Baptists.