Dark Eyes (song)
"Dark Eyes" (Russian: Очи чёрные, romanized: Óči čjórnye; transl. "Black Eyes") is a well-known and popular Russian romance folk song.
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The lyrics were written by the Russian-Ukrainian poet and writer Yevhen Hrebinka. The first publication of the poem was in Hrebinka's own Russian translation in Literaturnaya Gazeta on 17 January 1843. A song using these lyrics is attested already in the 1870s,[1] but its melody is not known.
In The Book of World-famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk, published in 2000, the author, J. Fuld, mentions that a Soviet musicologist had reported to him that the song is not "a Russian traditional song but a cabaret song", published in a songs book by A. Gutheil in 1897 and mentioned, at p. 131, as a "Gypsy romance based on the melody of Florian Hermann's Valse Hommage.[2] Despite the claim made by Fuld that, "Of the original melody author, Florian Hermann, not a single music score is known,"[3] the sheet music for Hermann's piece and others of his works can be found. Here is his "Rêverie russe":[4]
The reason why there is not a single music score known is because Sindo Garay is the author of the original melody of Dark Eyes. In Rebeca Chávez's 2010 documentary, 'Cuando Sindo Garay visitó a Emiliano Blez', Garay explains in detail the origin of the song.[5] The melody of 'Ojos negros que fascinan', a bolero, was composed upon request by Garay to a Russian choir girl with beautiful and expressive eyes when an Opera company from Russia came to visit Cuba in the early to mid-1890’s. Garay stated that the melody of 'Ojos negros' (Dark Eyes) went back to Russia with the musicians and it was not until many years later that he found out through a friend that the song was part of the soundtrack of a Russian film playing at the local theatre. Garay was pleased knowing his music was worthy of such a merit.
The most renowned and played version of this song was written by Adalgiso Ferraris, and published, when still in Russia in 1910, with German editor Otto Kuhl, as "Schwarze Augen" (Black Eyes).[6][7] Ferraris then published it again in 1931 by Paris Editions Salabert, as "Tes yeux noirs (impression russe)"[8] and with Jacques Liber, on 9 October 1931.[6][9]
Ferraris, an Italian-born British composer, had spent many years in Russia before 1915. The song became one of his major successes in the 1920s and 1930s, being also played by Albert Sandler, by Leslie Jeffries in 1939, and sung by Al Bowlly in 1939 with words of Albert Mellor.[10][11] Max Jaffa also recorded it.[12][13][14][15]
Ferraris himself can be seen in a British Pathé film from 1934 of Alfredo and his Gypsy band playing "Dark Eyes", sitting in the orchestra behind the lead Alfredo.[16]
Poem (original version by Hrebinka)
Russian | Transliteration | Translation |
---|---|---|
1. Очи чёрные, очи страстные, |
1. Óči čjórnye, óči strástnye, |
1. Black eyes, passionate eyes, |
Lyrics (Chaliapin version)
Russian (Cyrillic alphabet) | Transliteration (Latin alphabet) |
---|---|
Очи чёрные, очи жгучие, |
Ochi chyornye, ochi zhguchie |
See also
- The Red Army Choir, compilation album that includes Dark Eyes
References
- https://rusneb.ru/catalog/000199_000009_003573957/viewer/?page=11
- James J. Fuld. The book of world-famous music: classical, popular, and folk – Courier Dover Publications, 2000. – P. 417 (see also notes at p. 684).
- Fuld, James J. (1 January 2000). The Book of World-famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk. Courier Corporation. p. 684. ISBN 9780486414751. Retrieved 26 April 2017 – via Google Books.
- "Category:Hermann, Florian – IMSLP: Free Sheet Music PDF Download". Imslp.org.
- "Sindo Garay". notaclave.com. 25 March 2018.
- "Ferraris_Black_Eyes.pdf". Retrieved 26 April 2017.
- Schwarze Augen = Occhi neri = Black eyes. 1 January 1910. OCLC 315785698.
- "UniCat-Search". Unicat.be.
- "Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions". Library of Congress, Copyright Office. 1 January 1933. p. 1110. Retrieved 26 April 2017 – via Google Books.
- "Home". Imperial War Museum. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
- "Dark Eyes – Al Bowlly – Song Info". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
- "Vinyl Album: Max Jaffa – Gypsy Magic (1967)". 45worlds.com. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
- Pathé, British. "Albert Sandler – The Celebrated Violinist". britishpathe.com. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
- Pathé, British. "Leslie Jeffries". britishpathe.com. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
- "Al Bowlly – Dark Eyes". 5 March 2008. Retrieved 26 April 2017 – via YouTube.
- "Alfredo And His Famous Gypsy Band (1934)" – via YouTube.
External links
- Dark Eyes aka Les Yeux Noirs on Softpanorama
- Russian Music on the Net Translation was taken from this site
- Djangopedia description of song Includes chart. This is for Les yeux noirs, the French version of the song.
- English version
- Pretty Dark Eyes by David Seville