The Tale of Igor's Campaign

The anonymous Igor song ( Altostslawisch Слово о плъку Игоревѣ Slovo o pluku Igorevě; modern Russian Слово о полку Игореве Slovo o polku Igorewe; literally "Song of the Army Igor " ) is a medieval epic of the Rus.

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It deals with the efforts made in 1185 unsuccessful campaign of Russian prince Igor Svyatoslavich of Novgorod - Seversk against the Cumans, who brought him into captivity, but from which he escaped. The Song of Igor lamented the disunity of the Russians and the lack of a central ruler. For this purpose, an often -quoted excerpt from the Song of Igor: "It is difficult for the head / shoulder to be without. / But it is as much a misfortune / for the body to be without a head. "

The seal is not very extensive with 218 verses. The manuscript was discovered in 1795, when the landowner Alexei Ivanovich Musin - Pushkin bought from the monks of the monastery in Yaroslavl with other manuscripts. He made for Catherine the Great in a copy and released the song in 1800 with the help of palaeographers Alexei Malinovsky and Nikolai Bantysh - Kamensky. The only surviving original manuscript burned during Napoleon's invasion in 1812 the Great Fire of Moscow with the Library of Musin - Pushkin. In the 19th century, the work primarily in Eastern Europe became popular, but also in Germany, where it was translated, among others, of Rainer Maria Rilke. Alexander Borodin's opera Prince Igor Polovtsian dances with the famous based on the Song of Igor.

The authenticity of Igor song was formerly and is still disputed in part by some researchers. An important point is the relationship to the epic of the Battle of the Don, with which it has parts of the text together.

Excerpt from the Song of Igor

Igor looked up at the bright sun, and saw all his warriors shrouded in darkness. And Igor said to his drushina: "Brothers and warriors! It is better to fall in battle, than to starve in captivity. Let us climb our fast horses, brothers! Let us see the blue river Don. "

And Igor's spirit was seized with eagerness. And to drink the desire of the great river Don hid the bad omen for him. And so he said: "I want to break the lance on the border of the Cumans. I want to, oh my Russians, drink either with you Don - water out of my helmet, or there let my head. " Bojan Oh, nightingale of the past! If you were to sing the glory of the Russian campaign, like a nightingale would you fly over the tree of wisdom, your mind would be flying high above the clouds and bear witness to the glory of these times. You would walk in the path of Trojan, over the plains and mountains. And the grandson of Volos would sing Igors song: "Not a storm is the one who drove the Falcons over the plains. There is a flock of wild ducks, which pulls in the direction of the great river Don. "

Or do you, seers, Bojan, grandson of Volos would sing: " Armed horses snort behind the river Sula. Fame resounds in the city of Kiev. Fanfares resound in the city of Novgorod. Banner waving over the city Putivl. "

Werkausgaben

• Song of the Helgeland Igors - German translation of Harald Raab. In: Helmut Grasßhoff include: Bojan O, thou nightingale of old. Seven centuries old Russian literature. Frankfurt am Main: Verlag Heinrich Scheffler 1965.
• Medieval Russian Epics, Chronicles, and Tales: Revised Edition by Serge A. Zenkovsky, ISBN 0-452-01086-1 (English )
• Slovo o Polku Igoreve, Igorja, syna Svjateslavlja, vnuka Ol'gova. Pesnja from pachodze Ihara. The Lay Of The Warfare Waged By Igor, Son Of Svyatoslav, Grandson Of Oleg. Illustrated by Pavel Tatarnikov. Translated from Old Russian into Belarusian by Yanka Kupala, translated from Old Russian into English by Irina Petrova. Preface by Anatol Butevich. Minsk: . Kavaler Pablischers, 2003 ISBN 985-6427-68-1 ( altruss., Belaruss, engl. ).
• The Igor Song: a heroic poem. The Old Russian text with the transfer of Rainer Maria Rilke and the new Russian prose version of DS Likhachev. Leipzig: Insel-Verlag, 1985 Island Library, No. 689.