Russian Folk Songs with English translations

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: MMario
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 09:53 AM

Thank you for the comments Joe. Nice to see people do actually look at some of the stuff we post.

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: GUEST,Chuck the Monk
Date: 05 Oct 05 - 10:42 AM

What kind of a book do these russian songs come from?

Who has written it?

When?

Is there any interesting information on the missing pages?

Would it be possible to scan and publish them also?

In itself it is very interesting as a historical document.

Some of the songs have disappeared (been forbidden?)
during the Sovjet era. Possibly they might pop up again
during the new regime?

I expect that they are off Copyright anyway. The Sovjet Union did
anyway not respect at least Western copyright very much.

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: MMario
Date: 05 Oct 05 - 10:58 AM

Brother Chuck:

Most of the answers to your questions are here in the thread - but since a computer glitch scrambled the database a bit back the posts are out of order - so I will give you what I can.

What kind of a book do these russian songs come from?

a song book which had the music, russian and enlish

Who has written it?

unknown

When?

unknown but from various clues in the spelling and type faces etc we believe to be pre 1917

Is there any interesting information on the missing pages?

we don't know - they are missing *grin*

but at least one song and parts of others.

Would it be possible to scan and publish them also?

see URL:http://www.mudcat.org/russiansongs/index.cfm

or Click here

or did you mean the missing pages? How? they are not there to be scanned.

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 05 Oct 05 - 09:29 PM

Doubtless, Chuck is assuming that another copy exists with which the one discussed here could be compared.

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: Paul Burke
Date: 06 Oct 05 - 03:44 AM

Has anyone mentioned Abdul the Bulbul Ameer? (dives for cover)

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 06 Oct 05 - 04:44 AM

Dating of the songbook: It is definitely pre-1917; there are some letters which were abrogated by the reform in 1917, under Lenin.

The collector of these folksongs must have been close to the revolutionary movement; he has entered some critical songs against Tsar and tsarist regime.

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: GUEST,Chuck the Monk
Date: 06 Oct 05 - 03:10 PM

I posess something very similiar with translations to German
that I bought in a Music shop 1969 in Oldenburg in Oldenburg.

The author is one E L Swerkoff and the German editor is August Scholtz

Musik Verlag Wilhelm Zimmermann Frankfurt am Main

50 Russische Volkslieder fuer Gesang und Klavier.

They have published 47 other books in Russian/German in a Series
called Beliebte Russische Zigeunerromanzen. Gipsyromances

The russian is in the old spelling like my Mother learned and as soon as possible again forgot at school

This publication has given me quite a lot of pleasure during the years
strumming the melodies with Guitar.

This collection has been collected after the revolution by the
emigrants who had to leave Russia and they took with them the old spelling. Die Sammlung ist in schwerer Zeit in nichtrussischen "Ausland" entstanden. The collection has appeared in a difficult time in the nonrussian Foreign Country.

Schwerkov was the dirigent of the "Grossrussishen Orkesters" Greatrussian Orchester.

Gipsy melodies were I belive forbidden in the Sovjet era and so are some other of these also. I have studied som of the russian Folkmusic published in the 90-ies and quite a lot of these melodies do not appear.

Insted there are of course hymns to Lenin and March of the Pioneers etc. which perhaps now are not as popular as at that time.

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: GUEST,Chuck the Monk
Date: 06 Oct 05 - 03:22 PM

By the way

The song of Bajkal (28) appears in the book the Master and Margarita
were the Devil makes a chor of Russioans to sing it again and again
without pausing

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 07 Oct 05 - 04:24 AM

Thanks, Chuck, for the hint to Musikverlag Wilhelm Zimmermann in Frankfurt. Unfortunately they don't own a website, but by googling I found some interesting items. The publisher, formerly in Leipzig before the socialist times, seems to have published a lot of bilingual books where you have the original language and the german translation. I now remember that I own two schools in Russian/German, for balalaika and timpani, from the same publisher.

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: GUEST,Chuck the Monk
Date: 13 Oct 05 - 02:39 PM

I believe that this songbook is probably written by emigrant russians
in an english speaking country well after the revolution 1917.

The russians are very bound by tradition and so they have taken
with them the songs sung in Russia before the revolution.

By the way are the translation in American or in English
english language? I should guess in American. Does the
translation have echoes of Russia? My ear has not noticed but
perhaps somebody...?

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: GUEST,Chuck the Monk
Date: 13 Oct 05 - 02:47 PM

By the way I have somwere the rest of page 31
Zachem tui bezumnaja gubisch "Why do you mad something-something"

If interested I might try to make an ABC or Midi
of it. Only how to distribute it I do not know.

It is a quite nice and very russian song

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: MMario
Date: 13 Oct 05 - 02:54 PM

abc can be posted right here in this thread. We'll notify jeff/Pene and he can add it to the folk song page(s)

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: GUEST,Chuck the Mo
Date: 29 Oct 05 - 12:54 PM

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Oct 05 - 01:07 PM

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 03 Nov 05 - 04:42 AM

I think the book would have been English - Grandma did go to America but only in her later years. She came from Poland to England by way of Italy and unless the book made it's way across the Atlantic some other way I don't know how she would have got an American volume. Quick flip through the text shows me Gay with many_a col-lour'd pen-non from Stenka Rasin. American translation would have been col-lor'd wouldn't it?

Out of interest the interpretation of Stenka Rasin I got from my Grandad was that Stenka's bride was a Turkish princess he had stolen in a raid. On it becoming obvious that he could not win out against his Turkish enemy he became enraged and decided that if he could not have the princess, no-one could - So he threw her in the river! So much for true love... Grandad was born a Cossack on the banks of the Kuban river. It was the Kuban Kosaki who defended the southern borders of Russia against the Turks and Chechens so either Grandad knew what he was talking about or his view was coloured by the Kuban stories:-)

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: GUEST,Chuck the Monk
Date: 05 Nov 05 - 03:40 AM

X:1
T:zachem tui besymnaja
C:
I:abc2nwc
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:F
A2|d2A3G|F2E2D2|A2(A4|A3)zA2|d2A3G|F2E2D2|
(A6|A3)zA2|d2d3e|f2e2d2|c2(G4|G3)zd2|
A2A3E|G2F3E|(D6|D3)zA2|d2d3e|f2e2d2|
c2(G4|G3)zd2|A2A3E|G2F3E|(D6|D2)z2|]

I *hope* there is some sense left in this version.

There was more trouble in getting it to ABC than I thought.

But Salve Errore and Omissione here it is.

By the way the english translations are not always nearly exact
even while understanding that the demands of poetry ask for a certain freedom.

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: GUEST,Denis
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 09:58 AM

I'm musician from Russia.
I'v just overwiew this tread. I'm impressed. It's very interesting but, it's amusing, I can't re-translate text of some songs from English to Russian. Moreover, sometimes I do not understand how a song's title sounds on Russian.
I would be happy to help somebody who want to learn more about Russian Folk Songs. Though I'm not a specialist in this area (I'm a pianist, not a student of folklore)I think may be my answers could be useful for us.
I do not promise my answers will be fast (I do not always have access to Internet) but I try to do all in my possibilities.
E-mail: [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 10 Dec 05 - 09:15 AM

Thank you, Denis. I am happy with the information I have already but I am sure someone will take up your kind offer.

Cheers

Dave the Gnome

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: GUEST,Chuck the Monk
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 01:34 AM

Best Denis. The songs in Russian exist in a zip-file at Mudcat at the beginning of the thread. There are scanned the piano-notes with words in (old but still) Russian with the translations into American English

I myself have played the melodies (mostly) with an old Tula Bayan and they have been giving me a lot of pleasure. The pure melodies are in Midi-format in another downloadable zip-file

If you ar from Russia then the old spelling should be quite understandable.

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Jan 06 - 01:42 PM

wondering

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: Genie
Date: 17 Jan 06 - 05:49 PM

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 28 Dec 07 - 12:13 AM

I have a book called Zakon Bozhy (God's Law), sort of a Pravoslavny (Russian Orthodox) primer for kids and their parents. It was first published in the 60s by Emigres in Canada, but it still uses the old alphabet, hard-signs at the end of all words without a vowel or soft-sign. If there are English translations, my guess is that it wouldn't be any older than the mid-20s, as it seems like a very Emigre thing to do. They had some very busy presses!! Much of the material, in Russian that is, would probably have been drawn from older songbooks.

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: Mr Happy
Date: 18 Jun 09 - 07:05 AM

The translation for Stenka Rezin in the Russian song mudcat menu differs somewhat from that at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenka_Razin


Think I prefer the mc versio






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIIvFgNAwO4

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Sep 11 - 09:47 AM

Please tell me, who translated "Stenka Rasin" into English ?

Subject: RE: Russian Folk Songs with English translations
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Sep 11 - 10:38 AM

I searched a bit and found it:
http://www.colincolemanmusic.co.uk/cataloguedb/12226 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

olin Coleman Music


        Id        12226
Category        second-hand music
Author / Composer         
Title        50 Russian Folk Songs for Voice and Pianoforte. Edited by E.L. Swerkoff. English versions by D. Millar Craig. [Text in Russian and English].
Place        Leipzig
Publisher        Wilhelm Zimmermann
Publication Date        [1942]
ISBN / Plate No.        Z10771
Series        
Size        Folio. 59pp.
Description        Publisher's printed pictorial wrappers in gilt.
Reference        
Price        £15.00


back | enquire