Dido's Lament (When I am laid in earth) is as popular in Russia as anywhere else. After a recent BBC Radio 4 programme on Purcell's masterpiece I was surpised not to be able to find a Russian performance of the aria in Russian. They all seem to be in English.
Luckily I have kept a vinyl disc of 'Dido and Aeneus' performed in the early 1970s in Leningrad to the poetic translation by Yuri Dimitrin. The performance is wonderful (Yevgenia Gorokhovskaya as Dido), though, again, I was mildly surprised that it is more restrained in emotion than many English versions.
Dimitrin did a very good job in rendering Nahum Tate's libretto. As it often happens with poetic translations, a few bits were left out. In English, the bosom/breast is prominent, while in Russian it is left out of the text. And 'remember me' is rendered as 'forget not my love'. 'Don't forget my love' may be equal to 'don't forget me'. But here I wanted to point out something else: a clever technique of translating affirmative English phrase as negative into Russian. Negative forms are often more natural in Russian speech and translators should always keep this in mind. Even the simple exchange 'How are you? – All right' translates as 'Как дела? – Ничего'. 'Nichevo' literally meaning 'nothing', as in 'nothing bad happened'.
Dido's Lament in English:
RecitativeCompare with Russian text here.
Thy hand, Belinda, darkness shades me,
On thy bosom let me rest,
More I would, but Death invades me;
Death is now a welcome guest.
Aria
When I am laid, am laid in earth, may my wrongs create
No trouble, no trouble in, in thy breast.
When I am laid, am laid in earth, may my wrongs create
No trouble, no trouble in, in thy breast.
Remember me, remember me, but ah!
Forget my fate.
Remember me, but ah!
Forget my fate.
Remember me, remember me, but ah!
Forget my fate. Remember me, but ah!
Forget my fate.
This is a BBC video:
and here is a recent performance of the opera by the St.Petersburg Youth Choir (in English, final scene). Dido - Yana Ivanilova.
Picture: Dido, detail of 'Aeneas recounting the Trojan War to Dido' by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin.
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