Gori, gori moya zvezda!
Shine, Shine, My Star! Гори, гори, моя звезда!
The romance is very well known and loved by Russian people. There is a concept of a happy star in the world culture, closely connected with the love theme. The star, showing and illuminating a personal life track. The romance is devoted to the very theme. "Shine, Shine, My Star" is the English translation to this Russian romance, whose origin was uncertain for quite some time. The lyrics were ascribed to various people, including Nikolay Gumilyov, an influential Russian poet (1870-1953) and Ivan Bunin, the first Russian writer to win the Nobel Prize for literature (1870-1953), till the sheetmusic, that dated from 1847, was found in some archives.
It appeared that the original melody was composed by Peter Bulakhov (1822-1885) to a poem that was written by Vladimir Chuevskiy, a law student at the Moscow University. Peter Bulakhov is a well known Russian romances composer. His music is bright and folk in its style. His compositions were widely sung in Moscow homes. Nothing more is surely known about the poet. |
Two events are regarded to inspire the authors. "Gori, gori, moya zvezda" was presented during a contest in honor of the 700th anniversary of the city of Moscow in 1847. And that was a Christmas time, when everybody thought about the Christmas star. The theme of a shining star was also based on the allegation by the French Mattematician, Le Verrier, that there had to exist a still undiscovered planet in our solar system. A lot of public talks on the topic took place. This planet, Neptunus, was disovered in 1946 by Johann Galle, a German astronomist. Firstly, the romance did not become very popular.
At the beginning of World War I, the Russian singer Vladimir Sabinin re-arranged the romance and recorded it in 1915. The song had a patriotic undertone and became very popular immediately, because the theme of fate and love sharpened in the war time. After the revolutions of 1917 and the installation of the Soviet Russia, the romance stayed mostly with a one part of the Russian society in the beginning Civil war. The star meant now the lost Russian Empire for the White Movement participants, who loved the romance very much. That is why the authority of the romance has long been ascribed to admiral Kolchak and other Russian Empire proponents of that time. On that reason, "Gori, Gori, Moya Zvezda" was forbidden during the early Soviet years, because it was regarded to be a song of the White Guard, a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces, that fought the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War (1918-1922). The Russian singers Lemeshev and Kozlovsky risked to perform the song, but without extra publicity and recordings.
At the beginning of World War I, the Russian singer Vladimir Sabinin re-arranged the romance and recorded it in 1915. The song had a patriotic undertone and became very popular immediately, because the theme of fate and love sharpened in the war time. After the revolutions of 1917 and the installation of the Soviet Russia, the romance stayed mostly with a one part of the Russian society in the beginning Civil war. The star meant now the lost Russian Empire for the White Movement participants, who loved the romance very much. That is why the authority of the romance has long been ascribed to admiral Kolchak and other Russian Empire proponents of that time. On that reason, "Gori, Gori, Moya Zvezda" was forbidden during the early Soviet years, because it was regarded to be a song of the White Guard, a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces, that fought the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War (1918-1922). The Russian singers Lemeshev and Kozlovsky risked to perform the song, but without extra publicity and recordings.
The patriotic and, in the same time, very personal meaning of the romance helped it to regain popularity to a little extent in the years of the WWII and after. In 1944 "Shine, shine, my star" was performed and recorded by Georgi Vinogradov, but this recording did not contribute much to the popularity of the romance. It was only in 1956, when the song was used in the American film "War and Peace", based on the novel by Leo Tolstoj, that it made a true comeback in the USSR. The romance was declared to interpret the music and the words of the people.
The romance itself only persisted in tenor performances, till the bass singer Boris Shtokolov broke with this tradition and added "Gori, Gori, Moya Zvezda" to his own repertoire. The singer Leonid Kharitonov also brings the romance, but he sings it as if it were a prayer. In 1969 a movie was shot in Moscow named after the romance, and devoted to the theater art in the years of the Civil War. The score for accordion |
Boris Shtokolov performs the romance
|
Russian
1. Гори, гори, моя звезда. Звезда любви приветная! Ты у меня одна заветная, Другой не будет никогда. 2. Сойдёт ли ночь на землю ясная, Звёзд много блещет в небесах, Но ты одна, моя прекрасная, Горишь в отрадных мне лучах. 3. Звезда надежды благодатная, Звезда любви волшебных дней, Ты будешь вечно незакатная В душе тоскующей моей! 4. Твоих лучей небесной силою Вся жизнь моя озарена. Умру ли я – ты над могилою Гори, сияй, моя звезда! |
Transliteration
1. Gori, gori, moya zvezda, Zvezda lyubvi, privetnaya! Ty u menya odna zavetnaya, Drugoy ne budet nikogda. 2. Soydyot li noch na zemlyu yasnaya, Zvyozd mnogo bleshchet v nebesakh, No ty odna, moya prekrasnaya, Gorish v otradnykh mne luchakh. 3. Zvezda nadezhdy blagodatnaya, Zvezda lyubvi volshebnykh dney, Ty budesh vechno nezakatnaya V dushe toskuyushchey moyey. 4. Tvoikh luchey nebesnoy siloyu Vsya zhizn moya ozarena. Umru li ya, ty nad mogiloyu Gori, siyay, moya zvezda! |
English
1. Shine on, shine on, my vivid star! The star of love, the affable! You are the only cherished star with me, I`ll never have another one. 2. A clear night is to go down, A lot of stars shine in the skies, And you alone, my nice and beautiful, Are shining in the cuddly beams. 3. The favoured star, the star of hope And of the fairy days of love, I will be never seeing your downfall Within my ever yearning soul! 4. The whole my life is illumed with The skyey strength of your kind beams. If I once die, You shall, above my grave, Keep shining on, my vivid star! Translated by Alexander |
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shine,_Shine,_My_Star; http://a-pesni.org/romans/bulahov/gorigori.php
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Гори,_гори,_моя_звезда ; https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Леверье,_Урбен_Жан_Жозеф
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and_Peace_(1956_film) ; http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/4237063/post221617884
http://www.liveinternet.ru/community/4989775/post298039576/
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Гори,_гори,_моя_звезда ; https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Леверье,_Урбен_Жан_Жозеф
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and_Peace_(1956_film) ; http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/4237063/post221617884
http://www.liveinternet.ru/community/4989775/post298039576/