Dark Eyes (Russian song)

"Dark Eyes", n.d., "as arranged by Nikolai Artemev"

"Dark Eyes" (Russian: Очи чёрные, romanized: Ochi chyornye, lit. 'Black Eyes') is a well-known and popular Russian romance. The lyrics were written by the poet and writer Yevhen Hrebinka and first published on 17 January 1843. The melody associated with the lyrics has been borrowed from the "Valse hommage", Op. 21 for piano, written by Florian Hermann and published in 1879.

The Russian singer Feodor Chaliapin popularized a version of "Dark Eyes" with changes to the lyrics and additional verses.[1] Another popular version was written by the Italian-born British composer Adalgiso Ferraris, and first published in 1910 as "Schwarze Augen" ("Black Eyes").[2][3] The song became one of his major successes in the 1920s and 1930s; his version was played by Albert Sandler and Leslie Jeffries in 1939,[4][5] and sung by Al Bowlly, with lyrics by Albert Mellor, as "Black Eyes" in 1939.[6][7][8] Max Jaffa also recorded a version of the song in 1967.[9]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Chaliapin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Ferraris_Black_Eyes.pdf". Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  3. ^ Schwarze Augen = Occhi neri = Black eyes. 1 January 1910. OCLC 315785698.
  4. ^ Pathé, British. "Albert Sandler – The Celebrated Violinist". britishpathe.com. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  5. ^ Pathé, British. "Leslie Jeffries". britishpathe.com. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  6. ^ "Home". Imperial War Museum. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  7. ^ "Al Bowlly – Dark Eyes". 5 March 2008. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2017 – via YouTube.
  8. ^ "Dark Eyes – Al Bowlly – Song Info". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  9. ^ "Vinyl Album: Max Jaffa – Gypsy Magic (1967)". 45worlds.com. Retrieved 26 April 2017.