Ukrainian Voices-Sorrow and Joy
Ukrainian Voices-Sorrow and Joy
Joy clings to sorrow...in tears, like pearls, ‘round seeds of laughter.
Miraculous dawn is one with night, so how can I untwine them?
Sorrow, too, embraces joy. One rushes forward, the other pulls back,
and on they grapple, to and fro, and which is stronger? I don’t know.
-Oleksandr Oles
Slavic Voices-Simon Barrad-Baritone, Ben Flanders-Baritone, Lauren McAllister-Mezzo-soprano, Kseniia Polstiankina-Barrad-piano.
Sorrow and Joy-Music by Yakiv Stepovy text-Oleksandr Oles
The Cove-trio. Music by Yakiv Stepovy text-Taras Shevchenko
No, Do not sing-Music by Yakiv Stepovy text-Oleksandr Oles
Steppe-Music by Yakiv Stepovy text-Mykola Cherniavsky
In the North-duet. Music Mykolo Lysenko text-Heinrich Heine
When two must part-duet. Music Mykolo Lysenko text-Heinrich Heine
To the Island of Khortytsia-Music Mykolo Lysenko text-Yakiv Shchoholiv
Pray, Brethren!-Music Mykolo Lysenko text-Taras Shevchenko
The wide Dnipro roars and groans-Danylo Kryzhanivskyi (1856-1894)
Oh, not all sorrows have died-Yakiv Stepovyi (1883-1921)
My land, my love-(verse 1)-Ivan Karabyts (1945-2002)
The days pass-Stefania Turkewich (1898-1977)
My land, my love-(verse 3)-Karabyts
The Boundless Plain-Mykola Lysenko (1842-1912)
The Sun of Warmth and Kindness-Stepovy
My Kyiv!-trio. Ihor Shamo (1925-1982) arr. Simon Barrad
Sorrow and Joy
poem by Oleksandr Oles
Joy clings to sorrow...in tears,
like pearls, ‘round seeds of laughter.
Miraculous dawn is one with night,
so how can I untwine them?
Sorrow, too, embraces joy.
One rushes forward, the other pulls back,
and on they grapple, to and fro,
and which is stronger? I don’t know.
The Cove
Taras Shevchenko
Above the Dnieper cove
Stands a sycamore among willows,
Among willows and spruce,
And red viburnum.
The Dnieper the shore digs and digs,
Washing away the sycamore’s roots.
The old one stands bent over,
Like a Cossack that grew troubled,
Without fortune, without family,
Without a faithful wife,
or companions, or hope,
In solitude will grow old!
The sycamore says: I will bend,
And in the Dnieper I will bathe.
The Cossack says,
I will wander, and will seek my beloved. And viburnum and spruce
And pliant willow,
Like girls from the grove
Going out to sing;
Attired in flowers
And with luck will find a husband,
They give not a thought to the sycamore, they only weave, bend and sing…
No, do not sing happy songs
Music by Yakiv Stepovy
Poem by Oleksander Oles
No, do not sing happy songs
About flowers, about love’s paradise.
Do not pierce the sensitive heart
with a picture of enchanting happiness.
Look–not happiness, but misery,
Tedium, and grief are everywhere.
Do you hear that piteous groaning,
Weeping, forever tearing at the heart?
Do you see the burning tears,
Do you hear the clanging of chains?
Oh, do not sing carefree songs,
Do not sing a lullaby to your brothers.
Steppe
Music-Yakiv Stepovy
Text-Mykola Cherniavsky
Steppe after steppe,
Endless, to the sea shores,
Without lakes, rivers, without a grove
Only the mounds of haystacks.
Neither grove, nor woods,
Everywhere scorched earth…
No stream of silver water
whispers in the shade.
But when, with thunder
clouds fly in from the sea,
The steppe crosses itself with lightning,
Above the fields it will thunder,
It will rouse itself, awaken,
Bare its breast to the thunder;
It will speak, it will laugh
At once to the heavens,
and to all the earth!
The dead steppe.
Only with thunder
can it be awakened…
So above the fields
Let the longed for thunder roll!
In the North on the Cliff
text: Heinrich Heine
Ukrainian translation by Maksym Slavynsky
In the North, on a precipice,
A pine tree stands alone.
Covered in snow and ice, it sleeps.
Dreaming of a scorching desert land,
Where a beautiful palm tree stands alone.
When Two must Part
text by Heine,
Ukrainian translation by Maksym Slavinsky
When two must part,
They join hands
and weep, and sigh.
Sighs of incurable sadness.
When we were together,
We didn’t sigh, We never cried:
That sadness, those sighs
Came to us in time.
To the island of Khortytsia
text by Yakiv Shchoholiv
The river roars by the cliffs
Beating at the rapids:
The river asks: “Where are you children?”
“Where are you my people?”
The river pours over the rapids
Wailing on its way to Khortitsa.
Saying: “Baido! where is your fortress?
Where your flag and muskets?
Where your council, like the sea,
Swirling with power.
That freedom, liberty blazing forth
Like a great fire.
The walls have fallen
and the defenses
Clogged from bottom to top,
Covered with grass.
Within the citadel sleeps
A tombstone:
On lands of glory denied
The cattle graze!
On cossack homesteads
they have built houses.
The soil torn up, beaten,
furrowed with plows.
Freedom bound up in chains
in this flooded island rests;
Glory with blood mingled
Wanders the world.
And the Dnieper races to the sea
Asking over and over “Khortitsa
Where is your citadel, where your Бaida?
Where your flag and your muskets?”
Pray, O brethren, pray!
Taras Shevchenko
Pray, O brethren, pray!
Around the holy city a guard
from the underworld will stand, and
not allow the holy one to be destroyed.
And you who will protect Ukraine.
Do not allow your mother to perish
in the hands of the hangman.
From Konashevich until now
The fires have not stopped burning.
People dying in prison, barefoot, naked…
Children grow up unbaptized,
Cossack children; and the women,
The beauty of the cossack land
Wilt beneath the hand of the oppressor,
and the uncovered braid of the mother
frays in shame. Dark eyes
grow dim in captivity:
To free a cossack sister
he is not ashamed to suffer
under the yoke of the oppressor.
O grief! grief!
Pray children! A terrible judgement
the oppressors bring to Ukraine,
and the black mountains cry out!
The wide Dnipro roars and groans
Music-Danylo Kryzhanivskyi (1856-1894)
text-Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861)
The wide Dnipro roars and groans,
An angry wind wails
Bending tall willows to the ground,
Raising waves like mountains.
Тhe pale moon then
Was peeking out from behind a cloud
– here and there,
Like a boat on the blue sea
Rising and sinking.
The third cock has not yet crowed,
No one anywhere has spoken,
Owls in the grove called to one another,
And the ash tree creaked again and again.
Oh, not all sorrows have died
Music by Yakiv Stepovyi (1883-1921)
Text by Oleksandr Oles (1878-1944)
Oh, not all sorrows have died,
Not all songs have been sung,
Not all horizons have clouded over, –
My blood still boils, roiling in rage,
And my heart still beats like a bell,
My entire soul is in flames.
I’ll not succumb to life nor to you,
I’ll not douse the fire with tears, –
I’ll expand like the tempestuous steppe,
I’ll pour myself out in a sea of songs,
And into each song I’ll pour
All my passion, all my blood.
My land, my love-verse 1
Music-Ivan Karabyts (1945-2002)
text-Jurii Rybchynskyi (1945)
I have my land,
It’s mine from end to end,
My wells and fields,
I have my land.
My land!
You gave me a winged path.
My land!
Your fields are happiness.
In the native land of my forefathers
I will meet my destiny,
I will meet my love,
My star.
The days pass
Music-Stefania Turkevich (1898-1977)
Text-Taras Shevchenko
The days pass, the summer passes,
But, know this, Ukraine is burning;
In the villages small children weep –
There are no parents. Yellowing leaves
Rustle in the oak woods;
Clouds wander; the sun sleeps;
Human speech is nowhere to be heard;
Only the beast howls, it enters the village
Where it smells corpses.
The days pass, the summer passes.
My land, my love-verse 3
Music-Ivan Karabyts (1945-2002)
text-Jurii Rybchynskyi (1945)
I have my song.
The words came from love.
The land gave the song its music,
I have my song.
My land!
You gave me a winged path.
My land!
Your fields are happiness.
In the native land of my forefathers
I will meet my destiny,
I will meet my love,
My star.
The boundless plain
Music-Mykola Lysenko (1842-1912)
Text– Ivan Franko (1856-1916)
Oh, boundless plain of snowdrifts,
Give me your expansive freedom!
I am alone in your midst with only my horse
And the unbearable pain in my heart.
Carry me, my horse, over the pristine plain,
Like the whirlwinds that roam here,
And perhaps I will escape the ferocious pain
That tears my heart apart!
The sun of warmth and kindness
Music-Stepovy
Text-Oles
The sun of warmth and kindness has gone out,
Frost has destroyed my flower blooms, –
I cannot sing: tears tremble on my eyelashes,
And sorrow has embraced my soul.
The sun has gone out – an enchanting dream,
And I wander again without light…
My soul, for a single moment blossoming,
Has become like a coffin again.
My Kyiv
Music-Ihor Shamo (1925-1982)
text-Dmytro Lutsenko (1921-1989)
The green sea glimmers,
The quiet day extinguishes,
The slopes of the Dnipro
Have become so dear to me,
Where the tree branches sway
In amorous dreams…
How can I not love you,
My Kyiv!
The canna lilies look into my eyes,
I pour my heart into them.
Let them tell my beloved,
How faithfully I love.
I will dream and live
On the wings of my hopes…
How can I not love you,
My Kyiv!
The weary city sleeps
In a peaceful, sweet dream.
Evening lights, like a necklace,
Have bloomed over the Dnipro.
The velvets of evening,
Like breaking waves of happiness…
How can I not love you,
My Kyiv!