The beginning... I wish I knew where it was, this beginning... Almost two centuries ago, in 1831, a certain Russian lieutenant colonel by the name of Veltman retired and settled in Moscow. Just a year younger than Pushkin, military topographer Alexander Veltman (his surname has Swedish roots) met and even became friends with his great peer in Chisinau: in the early 1920s, Pushkin was in exile there, and Veltman was on a business trip. Original, non-standard Veltman's thinking attracted Pushkin; in any case, they were on "you".

In those days, many educated nobles dabbled in literature. The young Alexander Veltman was no exception. Pushkin had a rather good attitude towards the first literary experiments of his Kishinev friend. When Veltman's story The Wanderer was published in 1831 (it must be said, the form of this story was much ahead of its time), Pushkin commented on it like this: "In this somewhat pretentious chatter, real talent is felt." The thirty-year-old retired lieutenant colonel was one of those in Moscow who were among the first to congratulate Pushkin on his marriage. Not remaining indebted to the poet, he made a compliment to his beautiful wife: "Performed Poetry"

In general, that 1831 year in Moscow turned out to be very successful for Veltman the writer: in addition to the story "The Wanderer", his novels-poems "The Fugitive" and "Murom Forests" also saw the light. In his works - indeed, a little "artsy" - Veltman pays tribute to the romanticism that was fashionable at that time, the play of the imagination, and their form often follows the folklore tradition. So, it is in the "Murom Forests" that the hero of the story named Burivor asks the robbers to sing a song, and those robbers sing - that's what song they sing there

The word "péven", with the accent on the first syllable, means "rooster". In modern explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language, it is certainly accompanied by the notes "local, obsolete, regional." Actually, in the 19th century it was already such: V.I. Dal makes a note about him: "new-born, small-born." But in Ukrainian (“piven”) and in Belarusian (“peven”) this word is still quite common now. The root of the word "song" is the same as in the word "singer": the one who sings.

Veltman's verses cited above undoubtedly have independent value. Almost immediately, literally a year after the publication of Murom Forests, these verses were set to music - and not even by one, but at least by seven composers, among whom we see such names as Alyabyev and Varlamov (his version is the most common ). And very, very soon, the romance "What is clouded, the bright dawn" became extremely popular - there are numerous testimonies of this. And later, many famous singers willingly included this romance in their repertoire, it was reprinted many times, becoming, in essence, a very famous classical work.

Polished by countless performers, the text of the romance, in principle, does not differ too much from Veltman's poem, except that instead of “foggy” it is more convenient to sing “clouded”, and instead of “peven” - “loops” (another old and rare word in Russian with the meaning "rooster" and with the same common Slavic root from which the verb "sing" came from; it is still in use in the Bulgarian language and in the Slavic languages ​​​​in the Balkans). The only significant difference from Veltman's text can be seen only in the very last couplet:

Much for your lonely soul, I will ruin many souls ...

- for your soul, and not your own, as it was with Alexander Veltman. However, not all performers adhere to this version of the text. Oddly enough, but today you can find not so many records of the romance "What is clouded, the dawn is clear." Listen to it performed by Dmitry Hvorostovsky and the St. Petersburg Chamber Choir:


Alexander Fomich Veltman died in Moscow at the beginning of 1870, only a little before reaching the age of seventy. In addition to literature, Veltman was also fond of ethnography, archeology, history (since 1852 he was the director of the Armory of the Moscow Kremlin). The Russian historian and writer Mikhail Pogodin described his way of life in the following words:

He is one of those typical Moscow workers who work from morning till night in their office, hardly ever leave the house except for occasional necessities, know no pleasure in the world, and are wholly devoted to their work. It is useless to wish for imitators, because can there be hunters to pore over a desk or behind books for 15 hours a day? ..

After his death, many of his literary works were gradually forgotten, and interest in them was revived only a century later - mainly among literary historians.

The only exception is "What is clouded, the dawn is clear." The popularity of this work in the 19th century only increased: in fact, by 1870, the romance based on Veltman's poems had moved into the category of the so-called "folk" and "old".


Konstantin Lisovsky


Yuri Nazarov

The old song says:
After us in this world
A couple of faxes remain
And a web page...

Alexander Fomich Veltman did not use the Internet, but he hardly imagined that in the future he would be known not as a popular writer and not even as the director of the Armory, but as the author of a single romance. (And then, not everyone who heard the romance knows who the author is). Of course, this is still more than a dash between two dates.

But of the several thousand pages he wrote, only one is known to the modern public. And this despite the fact that his scientific works on history are still referred to in monographs and dissertations. His thick novels were reprinted in the second half of the 20th century.
Such are the grimaces of fate.

Alexander Fomich Veltman was born in 1800. From the age of 17 he has been in the military engineering service. Conducted topographic research in Bessarabia, where he became friends with A.S. Pushkin. In 1831, he retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel and came to grips with literature. He became a fashionable writer, a prominent person in the literary world, he was chased by publishers, editors of magazines were looking for his cooperation.

In the late 40s, having released another multi-page novel, he moved away from writing and published only scientific articles and monographs on archeology and linguistics.

In 1852, after the death of Mikhail Nikolaevich Zagoskin (also a very popular then, but now almost forgotten writer), he took over as director of the Armory. In 1854 the Academy of Sciences elected him a corresponding member. In 1870 he quietly and imperceptibly passed away.

And the presented romance is a song of robbers from the poem "Murom Forests" (1831). So A.F. Veltman can also be considered one of the founders of chanson. Only the modern Veltman robbers, nevertheless, thought about saving their souls (let us recall Ataman Kudeyar). And our contemporaries are not very somehow.

This is the only poem by Veltman that has become a folk song. Music for it was written by Ivan Yogel, Alexander Varlamov, Alexander Alyabyev and other composers.

And now the text itself:

What is clouded, the dawn is clear,
Fell to the ground with dew!
What did you think, red girl,
Eyes sparkled with tears!

I'm sorry to leave you alone
Peven hit with a wing.
It's almost midnight ... give me a deep charm,
Lather quickly with wine.

Time! Lead me my beloved horse,
Hold tight by the bridle ...
They go with goods on their way from Kasimov
Murom forest merchants.

They have a sewn blouse for you,
Fox fur coat;
You will walk all filled with gold,
Sleep on swan down.

Much for your lonely soul,
I will destroy many souls;
Is it my fault that you are black-eyed
More than a soul, I love!

And performance options (to music by Varlamov):

And finally, it is worth mentioning - in execution

WHAT IS MISTED, ZORENKA CLEAR ...

What is clouded, the dawn is clear,
Fell to the ground with dew!
What did you think, red girl,
Eyes sparkled with tears!

I'm sorry to leave you alone
Peven hit with a wing.
It's almost midnight ... give me a deep charm,
Lather quickly with wine.

Time! Lead me my beloved horse,
Hold tight by the bridle ...
They go with goods on their way from Kasimov
Murom forest merchants.

They have a sewn blouse for you,
Fox fur coat;
You will walk all filled with gold,
Sleep on swan down.

Much for your lonely soul,
I will destroy many souls;
Is it my fault that you are black-eyed
More than a soul, I love! WHAT DISTURBED ZORENKA CLEAR...

What is clouded, Zorya is clear,
Dropped to the ground dew!
What is thoughtful, the girl is red,
Eyes flashed a tear!

I'm sorry to leave you alone
Peven beat wing.
Soon it's midnight ... give me a deep spell
Scum fast wine.

time! Lead you to my beloved horse
Hold tight by the bridle...
Traveling with goods from Kasimov
Murom forest merchants.

Do you have a shirt embroidered for you,
Fox fur coat;
You will walk you all covered with gold,
Sleep on swan's down.

Much for your lonely soul
I will destroy many souls;
I am guilty that you are black-eyed
More than soul, love!


Almost two centuries ago, in 1831, a certain Russian lieutenant colonel by the name of Veltman retired and settled in Moscow. Just a year younger than Pushkin, military topographer Alexander Veltman (his surname has Swedish roots) met and even became friends with his great peer in Chisinau: in the early 1920s, Pushkin was in exile there, and Veltman was on a business trip. Veltman's original, non-standard thinking attracted Pushkin; in any case, they were on "you".
In those days, many educated nobles dabbled in literature. The young Alexander Veltman was no exception. Pushkin had a rather good attitude towards the first literary experiments of his Kishinev friend. When Veltman's story The Wanderer was published in 1831 (it must be said, the form of this story was much ahead of its time), Pushkin commented on it like this: "In this somewhat pretentious chatter, real talent is felt." The thirty-year-old retired lieutenant colonel was one of those in Moscow who were among the first to congratulate Pushkin on his marriage. Not remaining indebted to the poet, he made a compliment to his beautiful wife: "Incarnate poetry" ...
In general, that 1831 year in Moscow turned out to be very successful for Veltman the writer: in addition to the story "The Wanderer", his novels-poems "The Fugitive" and "Murom Forests" also saw the light. In his works - indeed, a little "artsy" - Veltman pays tribute to the romanticism that was fashionable at that time, the play of the imagination, and their form often follows the folklore tradition. So, it is in the Murom Forests that the hero of the story named Burivor asks the robbers to sing a song, and the robbers sing - this is the song they sing there:

What has become foggy, the dawn is clear,
Has fallen to the ground with dew?
What are you thinking, red girl,
Did your eyes sparkle with tears?

I'm sorry to leave you, black-eyed!
Peven hit with a wing,
He shouted! .. It's already midnight! .. Give me a deep charm,
Get drunk with wine!
Time!.. Lead me your beloved horse,
Hold tight by the bridle!
They go with goods on their way from Kasimov
Murom forest merchants!

They have a sewn blouse for you,
Fox fur coat!
You will walk all drenched in gold,
Sleep on swan down!
A lot for your lonely soul,
I will buy a lot of clothes!
Is it my fault that you, black-eyed,
More than a soul, I love!

The word "péven", with the accent on the first syllable, means "cock". In modern explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language, it is certainly accompanied by the notes "local, obsolete, regional." Actually, in the 19th century it was already such: V.I. Dal makes a note about him: "new-born, small-born." But in Ukrainian (“piven”) and in Belarusian (“peven”) this word is still quite common now. The root of the word "song" is the same as in the word "singer": the one who sings.
Veltman's verses cited above undoubtedly have independent value. Almost immediately, literally a year after the publication of Murom Forests, these verses were set to music - and not even by one, but at least seven composers, among whom we see such names as Alyabyev and Varlamov (his version is the most common ). And very, very soon, the romance "What is clouded, the dawn is clear" became extremely popular - there are numerous testimonies of this. And later, many famous singers willingly included this romance in their repertoire, it was reprinted many times, becoming, in essence, a very famous classical work.
Polished by countless performers, the text of the romance, in principle, is not too different from Veltman’s poem, except that instead of “foggy” it’s more convenient to sing “clouded”, and instead of “peven” - “loops” (another old and rare word in Russian with the meaning "rooster" and with the same common Slavic root from which the verb "sing" came from; it is still in use in the Bulgarian language and in the Slavic languages ​​​​in the Balkans). The only significant difference from Veltman's text can be seen only in the very last couplet:
Much for your lonely soul,
I'll lose a lot of souls...
- for your soul, and not your own, as it was with Alexander Veltman. However, not all performers adhere to this version of the text. Oddly enough, but today you can find not so many records of the romance "What is clouded, the dawn is clear."

Alexander Fomich Veltman died in Moscow at the beginning of 1870, only a little before reaching the age of seventy.
After his death, many of his literary works were gradually forgotten, and interest in them was revived only a century later - mainly among literary historians.
The only exception is "What is clouded, the dawn is clear." The popularity of this work in the 19th century only increased: in fact, by 1870, the romance based on Veltman's poems had moved into the category of the so-called "folk" and "old".


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