None but the Lonely Heart (Tchaikovsky)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed a set of six romances for voice and piano, Op. 6, in late 1869; the last of these songs is the melancholy "None but the Lonely Heart" (Russian: Нет, только тот, кто знал, Net, tol'ko tot, kto znal), a setting of Lev Mei's poem "The Harpist's Song," which in turn was translated from Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship.

Tchaikovsky dedicated this piece to Alina Khvostova. The song was premiered by Russian mezzo-soprano Yelizaveta Lavrovskaya in Moscow in 1870, following it with its St. Petersburg premiere the following year during an all-Tchaikovsky concert hosted by Nikolai Rubinstein;^[1] the latter was the first concert devoted entirely to Tchaikovsky's works.^[2]

Text

Mei's Russian translation: Net, tol'ko tot, kto znal svidan'ja, zhazhdu, pojmjot, kak ja stradal i kak ja strazhdu. Gljazhu ja vdal'... net sil, tusknejet oko... Akh, kto menja ljubil i znal — daleko! Akh, tol'ko tot, kto znal svidan'ja zhazhdu, pojmjot, kak ja stradal i kak ja strazhdu. Vsja grud' gorit... Kto znal svidan'ja zhazhdu, pojmjot, kak ja stradal i kak ja strazhdu.

Goethe's German original: Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt Weiß, was ich leide! Allein und abgetrennt Von aller Freude, Seh ich ans Firmament Nach jener Seite. Ach! der mich liebt und kennt, Ist in der Weite. Es schwindelt mir, es brennt Mein Eingeweide. Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt Weiß, was ich leide!

An English translation: None but the lonely heart Can know my sadness Alone and parted Far from joy and gladness Heaven's boundless arch I see Spread out above me O(h) what a distance drear to one Who loves me None but the lonely heart Can know my sadness Alone and parted Far from joy and gladness Alone and parted far From joy and gladness My senses fail A burning fire Devours me None but the lonely heart Can know my sadness

Notable recordings

• Frank Sinatra, on the compilation albums The Columbia Years 1943–1952: The Complete Recordings and The Columbia Years 1943–1952: The V-Discs

The Spike Jones number "Soap Operetta" begins with a brief instrumental version of the tune before the spoken dialogue.

Notes

1. Brown, Early Years, 214—215; Warrack, 59.
2. Spencer, New Grove (1980) 10:556.

References

• Brown, David, Tchaikovsky: The Early Years, 1840–1874 (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1978). ISBN 0-393-07535-2.
• Spencer, Jennifer, ed. Stanley Sadie, "Lavrovskaya [Lawrowska], Yelizaveta Andreyevna," The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London: Macmilian, 1980). ISBN 0-333-23111-2.
• Warrack, John, Tchaikovsky (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973). SBN 684-13558-2.

External links

• The LiederNet Archive