Songs
Dejte klec jestřábu (Give a hawk a cage)
by Antonín Dvořák From Cigánské Melodie (Gypsy Songs) (1880) Op. 55
Text & Translation
Dejte klec jestřábu (Give a hawk a cage)
Czech source:
Adolf Heyduk
nezmění on za ni hnízda trněného.
Komoni bujnému, jenž se pustou žene,
zřídka kdy připnete uzdy a třemene.
A tak i cigánu příroda cos dala:
k volnosti ho věčným poutem, k volnosti ho upoutala.
As long as the falcon can fly above the Tatra mountains
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
He will never exchange his rocky nest for a cage.
If the wild foal can race across the heath,
He’ll find no pleasure in bridle and reins.
If, O gypsy, nature has given you something,
She has given me freedom all my life.
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Dejte klec jestřábu (Give a hawk a cage)
Czech source:
Adolf Heyduk
As long as the falcon can fly above the Tatra mountains
English source:
Richard Stokes
Dejte klec jestřábu ze zlata ryzého;
As long as the falcon can fly above the Tatra mountains,
nezmění on za ni hnízda trněného.
He will never exchange his rocky nest for a cage.
Komoni bujnému, jenž se pustou žene,
If the wild foal can race across the heath,
zřídka kdy připnete uzdy a třemene.
He’ll find no pleasure in bridle and reins.
A tak i cigánu příroda cos dala:
If, O gypsy, nature has given you something,
k volnosti ho věčným poutem, k volnosti ho upoutala.
She has given me freedom all my life.
Composer
Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák (8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czech composer, one of the first to achieve worldwide recognition. He frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Read his full…
