Dark Eyes (Russian song)

This article is about the Russian song. For other works with similar titles, see Dark Eye.

File:Одно из первых нотных изданий романса «Очи черные».jpg

"Dark Eyes", n.d., "as arranged by Nikolai Artemev"

"Dark Eyes" (Russian: Очи чёрные, tr. Óči čjórnye; IPA: [ˈotɕɪ ˈtɕɵrnɨjɪ]) is a well-known and popular Russian romance song.

The lyrics were written by the poet and writer Yevgeny Grebyonka (Yevhen Hrebinka) who was of Ukrainian origin. 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, but its melody is not known.

The melody now associated with the lyrics is substantially identical to "Valse hommage", Op. 21 for piano, by Florian Hermann and published in 1879. In The Book of World-famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk (2000) James Fuld reports that a Soviet musicologist told him that the song is not "a Russian traditional song but a cabaret song", published in 1884 and reprinted as number 131 in a songbook by A. Gutheil in 1897, where it is described as a "Gypsy romance based on the melody of Florian Hermann's Valse Hommage".

In Rebeca Chávez's 2010 documentary, 'Cuando Sindo Garay visitó a Emiliano Blez', Sindo Garay gives his own account of the origin of the song. 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-1890s. 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). Ferraris then published it again in 1931 by Paris Editions Salabert, as "Tes yeux noirs (impression russe)" and with Jacques Liber, on 9 October 1931.

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 as "Black Eyes" in 1939 with words of Albert Mellor. Max Jaffa also recorded it.

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.

Poem (original version by Hrebinka)

Russian	Transliteration	Translation
1. Очи чёрные, очи страстные, Очи жгучие и прекрасные! Как люблю я вас, как боюсь я вас! Знать, увидел вас я в недобрый час! 2. Ох, недаром вы глубины темней! Вижу траур в вас по душе моей, Вижу пламя в вас я победное: Сожжено на нём сердце бедное. 3. Но не грустен я, не печален я, Утешительна мне судьба моя: Всё, что лучшего в жизни Бог дал нам, В жертву отдал я огневым глазам!	1. Óči čjórnye, óči strástnye, Óči žgúčie i prekrásnye! Kak ljubljú ja vas, kak boyús' ja vas! Znat' uvídel vas ja v nedóbryj čas! 2. Oh, nedárom vy glubiný temnéj! Vížu tráur v vas po dušé moéj, Vížu plámja v vas ja pobédnoe: Sožženó na njom sérdce bédnoe. 3. No ne grústen ja, ne pečálen ja, Utešítel'na mne sud'bá mojá: Vsjo čto lúčševo v žízni Bog dal nam, V žértvu ótdal ja ognevým glazám!	1. Black eyes, passionate eyes, Burning and beautiful eyes! How I love you, how I fear you, It seems I met you in an unlucky hour! 2. Oh, not for nothing are you darker than the deep! I see mourning for my soul in you, I see a triumphant flame in you: A poor heart immolated in it. 3. But I am not sad, I am not sorrowful, My fate is soothing to me: All that is best in life that God gave us, In sacrifice I returned to the fiery eyes!

Lyrics (Chaliapin version)

Russian (Cyrillic alphabet)

Transliteration (Latin alphabet)

Очи чёрные, очи жгучие, Очи страстные и прекрасные, Как люблю я вас, как боюсь я вас, Знать увидел вас я не в добрый час. Очи чёрные, жгучне пламенны И мaнят они в страны дальные, Где царит любовь, где царит покой, Где страданья нет, где вражды запрет. Очи чёрные, очи жгучие, Очи страстные и прекрасные, Как люблю я вас, как боюсь я вас, Знать увидел вас я не в добрый час. Не встречал бы вас, не страдал бы так, Я бы прожил жизнь улыбаючись, Вы сгубили меня очи чёрные Унесли на век моё счастье. Очи чёрные, очи жгучие, Очи страстные и прекрасные, Как люблю я вас, как боюсь я вас, Знать увидел вас я не в добрый час.

Ochi chyornye, ochi zhguchie Ochi strastnye i prekrasnye Kak lyublyu ya vas, kak boyus' ya vas Znat' uvidel vas ya ne v dobryi chas Ochi chyornye, zhguchie plamenny I manyat oni v strany dal'nye Gde tsarit lyubov', gde tsarit pokoi Gde stradan'ya nyet, gde vrazhdy zapryet Ochi chyornye, ochi zhguchie Ochi strastnye i prekrasnye Kak lyublyu ya vas, kak boyus' ya vas Znat' uvidel vas ya ne v dobryi chas Ne vstrechal by vas, ne stradal by tak Ya by prozhil zhizn' ulybayuchis' Vy zgubili menya ochi chyornye Unesli na vek moyo schast'ye Ochi chyornye, ochi zhguchie Ochi strastnye i prekrasnye Kak lyublyu ya vas, kak boyus' ya vas Znat' uvidel vas ya ne v dobryi chas

See also

• The Red Army Choir, compilation album that includes Dark Eyes

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