Wednesday 28 April 2010

Happiness Lives in the Lilacs


"In the morning, at daybreak,
over the dewy grass,
I will go to breathe the crisp dawn;

and in the fragrant shade,
where the lilac crowds,
I will go to seek my happiness... "

*

Photographed
today in the early morning light
© by Merisi

Song text
by Ekaterina Andreyena Beketova
English translation
© by Anton Bespalov and Rianne Stam

To listen to
Tamara Sinyavskaya sing
Rachmaninov's "Lilacs'", op. 21 no. 5,
click on this text
.

9 comments:

  1. .

    LILACS

    In the morning, at daybreak,
    over the dewy grass,
    I will go to breathe the crisp dawn;
    and in the fragrant shade,
    where the lilac crowds,
    I will go to seek my happiness...

    In life, only one happiness
    it was fated for me to discover,
    and that happiness lives in the lilacs;
    in the green boughs,
    in the fragrant bunches,
    my poor happiness blossoms...

    By Ekaterina Andreyena Beketova
    English translation
    © by Anton Bespalov and Rianne Stam
    http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=2341

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lilacs! I miss having them around but the deer would probably eat them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ahh, lilacs. I usually think of their scent, and then the range of lilac colors. Bees like them, too!

    Your photos give me a new way to consider the lilacs, with really charged color, against a brilliant sky and nesting in those fresh green leaves. Wow!

    Best wishes!

    ReplyDelete
  4. The colors! Wonderful saturation!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dear Merisi,
    Still more lilac inspiration from you!! The photographs, music and poem are just perfect!

    I did not get to read the article in the NYT to which you referred in your message to me, but I have to say it does not surprise me! Obviously Empress Maria Theresa was just not sexy enough for them!!

    I'm planning a post very soon about some Jose Andres desserts (I remembered you are a fan of his!)

    Wishing you a happy evening,

    Betty

    ReplyDelete
  6. In England the lilac is usually a blossom of the month of May and for me represents the fullness of spring and return of welcome warm weather. A lovely post.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Cathy,
    I didn't know that deer would eat lilacs!

    Frances,
    I photographed these in a small town along a lake south of Vienna, where lilacs bloom profusely right now, and most have this darker shade of purple, with a few white ones the exception. I love the heady fragrance of lilacs, and at the early hour I was out there, it was very intense.

    Vicki Lane,
    nature at her showy best! :-)

    The Gossamer Tearoom:
    Betty,
    only reading the name José Andrés makes my mouth water! ;-)

    Btw, the article about royals in NY, published in the New York Times, is still online:

    Getting the Royal Treatment (click on the title to read it - I have really nothing better to do than read such drivels, do I?)
    The offending phrase is "Geza von Habsburg, a descendant of Marie Antoinette’s mother and an expert on the jeweler Fabergé who lives in Westchester County" - Marie Antoinette's mother being the Empress Maria Theresia. ;-)

    Wandring Star,
    and so it is here in Vienna. Flieder - lilacs - is the epitome of spring. As far as I am concerned, the wheel of time could stop right now, I could live in lilacs time forever.

    ReplyDelete
  8. so pretty! we have a more purple/blue one here, love the color of these!

    ReplyDelete
  9. So pretty.. what beautiful, saturated, vibrant colours. I love lilacs. Mine are still about a week or two from full bloom.

    ReplyDelete

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