VLADIMIR VYSOTSKY (1938-1980)
Vladimir Vysotsky was a multitalented phenomenon. Besides being a brilliant poet and singer-songwriter, he also was a prominent movie and theater actor. He was the lead artist in the famous Taganka Theater in Moscow during the 1960s-1970s. In 1971 he got the role of Hamlet in a play by Shakespeare. It became his peak stage achievement. Vysotsky continued to play Hamlet till his untimely death in 1980. The Hamlet role became his last one – Vysotsky performed Hamlet just a week before passing away.
Playing Hamlet Vysotsky dived deep into the Shakespearean tragedy – so deep that he decided to … continue what the famous Britt had created. He decided to write a poem which could explain Hamlet’s character, its formation and development. Shakespeare himself didn’t say much about how Hamlet became that very person. Vladimir Vysotsky did!
Michael Ohlsson (Sweden) turned my translation of the Vysotsky Hamlet into an impressive musical piece – I would rather say, into a mini rock opera!
Hamlet
Some things about myself I will explain —
Though not too much to what you know I’m adding
I was conceived in nerves, in sweat, in pain
That sinful night that follows the wedding.
The higher off the earth — the more it stings,
The crueler and tougher are we there;
I knew that soon I’d be one of the kings,
Thus I behaved quite like a royal heir.
The world was mine! I never faced a fall,
I wasn’t beaten, I was never down.
My friends and playmates served me one and all
Like their fathers served the Danish crown.
I didn’t care much for what I said,
And often I was nothing but a bully,
I might be lying, might be rude or bad —
My highborn comrades would obey me fully.
At nights the watchmen feared our band,
And time was sick with us as if with measles;
I slept on skins, used as a fork my hand,
And I was fond of painful, biting teases.
I knew one day I would be told: “Rule!”
By kismet I was from the birth date branded.
With horses, harness, arms my life was full
But sometimes school I also attended.
I could be smiling only with lips,
No one could tell if I was glad or sorry ...
The jester brought me up. I took his tips.
He’s now dead. Amen, my poor Yorick!
But I rejected when I came of age
This life of pleasure, endless fun and routs.
I pitied suddenly a boy — a murdered page,
Since then I never tramped on fragile sprouts ...
I could enjoy no longer hunters’ feasts,
I hated these retrievers, bassets, hounds,
I turned my horse away from wounded beasts
And whipped the grooms — my rage had no bounds!
I saw: the games we played began to look
Like playing havoc with the poor nation;
And late at night in a remote brook
I tried to wash off daily dissipation.
The more I saw — the sillier I got,
I overlooked my relatives intriguing;
I didn’t like the century and not
At all its men — so I submerged in reading.
My greedy brain sucked knowledge more and more,
Perceiving all: both progress and stagnation.
But what’s the use in science and in law
If real life is their refutation?
My childhood friends were now strange to me,
All ancient myths and legends lost their glamour;
I tried to solve “to be or not to be?”
But couldn’t crack that terrible dilemma.
The sea of troubles gives us no rest,
We’re slinging arrows in it as if they quench it.
For an illusive answer people quest
Through coals and ashes of this burning question.
I heard the call of ancestors and I
Went to that call, though strongly hesitating,
The weight of thoughts was lifting me too high,
While wings of flesh into the grave were taking.
Time smelted me into the alloy that
Had cooled — and right away disintegrated,
And I spilled blood like others — tit for tat!
I dived into revenge and into hatred.
The rise before my death is but a fall!
Ophelia! Decay I can not bear!
Committing murder I had matched them all
With whom a common grave I’d later share..
I’m Hamlet! I despised the rule of force,
I sent to hell the scepter and the throne;
But scoundrels around me thought, of course,
I killed my rivals just to reign alone!
A genius often looks as if he raves,
Right after birth death starts its quick progression ...
But we again a tricky answer raise
And fail to find a veritable question!
Performance
Translated by George Tokarev
© GEORGE TOKAREV 2001
Audio Video
POETRY IN SONGS
Audio Video