Song Of The Varangian Guest From The Opera 'sadko' Poem by Yuri Starostin
Song Of The Varangian Guest From The Opera 'sadko'
Song of the Varangian Guest from the Opera 'Sadko'
The waves terrible break up with the roaring on the rocks
And, turning with the white foam, run back.
But firmly the grey cliffs endure the waves rush
Stand over the sea.
From those rocks stone at us, Varangians, the bones are,
From the sea waves in us, the blood-ore went.
And the thoughts are secret from the fog,
We born at the sea will die at the sea.
The swords is the bulat, the arrows are sharp at the Varangians,
They cause the death missless to the enemy,
The people of the midnight countries are brave,
Great their One God is, sullen the sea is.
Is the final line...their One God or is it their God Odin? (...их Бог Один... or...их бог один... or... их бог Один...?)
Well spotted! It should actually be велик их Один-бог. The mistake arose from a mis-reading in one edition where presumably an over zealous proofreader had never heard of Odin. I have sung this in Russia and always use велик их Один-бог!
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/23/2024 5:48:55 PM # 1.0.0.1119
Last line is translation from incorrect edition of the work. The Russian should be velikh ikh Odin-bog... (great is their god Odin) which fits the rhythm and metre, not velikh ikh bog odin (great their one God) which does not fit the stress in the musical phrase.
I heard 'Veliki Odin God, ugriumo morie', Great God Odin, perilous sea'. Velikikh would be genitive case of plural, singular of nominative is grammatically correct. I prefer 'perilous' in this context, ugrium suggests gloom and danger.