Anchar - drevo smerti (Pushkin, set by N. Rimsky-Korsakov) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


 V pustyne chakhloj i skupoj,
 na pochve, znojem raskalennoj,
 anchar, kak groznyj chasovoj, 
 stojit odin vo vsej vselennoj.

 Priroda zhazhdushchikh stepej
 jego v den' gneva porodila
 i zelen' mertvyju vetvej,
 i korni jadom napojila.

 Jad kaplet skvoz' jego koru,
 [poutru]¹ rastopjas' ot znoju,
 i zastyvajet vvecheru
 gustoj, prozrachnoju smoloju.

 K nemu i ptica ne letit,
 i [zver']² nejdot: lish' vikhor' chjornyj
 na drevo smerti nabezhit -
 i mchitsja proch' uzhe tletvornyj.

 I jesli tucha orosit,
 bluzhdaja, list jego dremuchij,
 s jego vetvej uzh jadovit
 stekajet dozhd' v pesok gorjuchij.

 No cheloveka chelovek
 poslal k ancharu vlastnym vzgljadom;
 i [on]³ poslushno v put' potek,
 i k utru vozvratilsja s jadom.

 Prinjos on smertnuju smolu
 da vetv' s uvjadshimi listami,
 i pot po blednomu chelu
 strujilsja khladnymi ruch'jami;

 prinjos i oslabel, i ljog
 pod svodom shalasha na lyki,
 i umer bednyj rab u nog
 nepobedimogo vladyki.

 A car' tem jadom napital
 svoji poslushlivyje strely
 i s nimi gibel' razoslal
 k sosedjam v chuzhdyje predely.

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¹ Pushkin: "k poludnju"
² Pushkin: "tigr"
³ Pushkin: "tot"

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Note on Transliteration

Authorship

Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799-1837)

Drevo jada

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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