"Shine, Shine, My Star" is an acclaimed Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n romance

Romance (music)

The term romance has a centuries-long history. Applied to narrative ballads in Spain, it came to be used by the 18th century for simple lyrical pieces not only for voice, but also for instruments alone. During the 18th and 19th centuries Russian composers developed the French variety of the...

.

The authorship of the song was uncertain for some time, being ascribed to various people, including Nikolay Gumilyov

Nikolay Gumilyov

Nikolay Stepanovich Gumilev was an influential Russian poet who founded the acmeism movement.-Early life and poems:Nikolai was born in the town of Kronstadt on Kotlin Island, into the family of Stepan Yakovlevich Gumilev , a naval physician, and Anna Ivanovna L'vova . His childhood nickname was...

 and Ivan Bunin. A popular belief attributed it to Russian Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak

Aleksandr Kolchak

Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Kolchak was a Russian naval commander, polar explorer and later - Supreme ruler . Supreme ruler of Russia , was recognized in this position by all the heads of the White movement, "De jure" - Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, "De facto" - Entente States...

 until the 1847 sheet music

Sheet music

Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...

 was found in archives.

According to Russian romance researcher Yelena Ukolova, the song was created amid celebrations of the 700th anniversary of Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 in January 1847. The music was composed by Pyotr Bulakhov (Петр Булахов), and the lyrics written by student Vladimir Chuyevsky (Владимир Чуевский). However, the romance did not become popular until the eve of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 when singer Vladimir Sabinin re-arranged it. The breakthrough came in 1915 when Sabinin's gramophone record

Gramophone record

A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 appeared.

During the Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 years, the romance was labelled the 'White One

White movement

The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...

' and obliterated for a while. In 1944 it was performed on record by Georgy Vinogradov. But, according to Ukolova, it was the 1956 American film War and Peace

War and Peace (1956 film)

War and Peace is the first English-language film version of the novel War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. It is an American/Italian version, directed by King Vidor and produced by Dino De Laurentiis and Carlo Ponti. The music score was by Nino Rota and the cinematography by Jack Cardiff...

that made it possible for this romance to make a true comeback in USSR.

The romance itself persisted only in tenor

Tenor

The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...

s' repertoire until the bass

Bass (voice type)

A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...

 singer Boris Shtokolov

Boris Shtokolov

Boris Shtokolov was a famous Soviet and Russian singer, one of the greatest basses of the 20th century.Boris Shtokolov was born in the city of Kuznetsk, Kemerovo Oblast . In 1949 he entered the Ural State Conservatory in Sverdlovsk but wanted to became a military pilot...

broke the custom.

Lyrics

Russian	Transliteration	English translation
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!	1. Gori, gori, moya zvezda, Gori, zvezda 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!	1. Shine, shine, my star, Shine, affable star! You are my only cherished one, Another there will never be. 2. If a clear night comes down upon the earth Many stars shine in the skies, But you alone, my gorgeous one, Shine in pleasant beams to me 3. O blessed star of hope, The star of love of magic days, You will be eternally unwithering In my longing soul. 4. By the heavenly strength of your beams My whole life is illumated And if I die, over my grave Shine, shine on, my star!

The following version, by Peter Farnbank, can be sung to the melody of "Gori, gori, moya zvezda".
“Oh shine, oh shine, my wondrous star”

1.

Oh shine, oh shine, my wondrous star,

Oh star of love, you welcome are.

||: Here in my heart are you the precious one:

No place for more: there can be none! :||

2.

Tho’_a million stars light up from high,

On cloudless nights, both earth and sky,

||: ‘Tis none but you, my wondrous star so bright,

That shine on me such glorious light! :||

3.

Enchanted star of love divine,

Of cherished bygone days of mine.

||: But come what may, in my tormented soul

There shall you stay to keep me whole! :||

4.

How brightly beams your heav'nly ray.

Shine on my paths of life today.

||: Forever shine! Ev'n on my grave afar!

Oh brightly shine, my wondrous star! :||

External links

• Музей Шансона: Романс "Гори, гори, моя звезда" (Museum of Chanson: Shine, Shine, My Star), History, Original sheetmusic, etc.
• YouTube entry (Dmitri Khvorostovsky)