Tchaikovsky Legend Op. 54-5

"Легенда" Ор. 54-5
Государственный камерный хор Министерства культуры СССР
Дирижер Валерий Полянский
Запись 1988 г. в Софийском соборе г. Полоцк
"Legend" a cappella
The USSR Ministry of Culture Chamber Choir
Conductor Valeri Polyansky
Recording 1988 in St. Sofia Cathedral of Polotsk

Verse by Richard Henry Stoddard (1825-1903) translated by Pleshcheev

The young child Jesus had a garden,
Full of roses, rare and red:
And thrice a day he watered them,
To make a garland for his head.

When they were full-blown in the garden,
He called the Jewish children there,
And each did pluck himself a rose,
Until they stripped the garden bare.

"And now how will you make your garland?
For not a rose your path adorns."
"But you forget," he answered them,
"That you have left me still the thorns."

They took the thorns, and made a garland,
And placed it on his shining head;
And where the roses should have shone
Were little drops of blood instead!