None but the lonely heart
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Tchaikovsky composed a set of six romances for voice and piano, Op. 6, in late 1869. The last of these songs, the melancholy None but the lonely heart (Russian: Нет, только тот, кто знал, Net, tolko tot, kto znal), is Tchaikovsky's most famous song, and one of his most popular compositions. It was composed to Lev Aleksandrovich Mey'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.
[edit] Text
Mey'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 anonymous English translation:
- Only one who knows loneliness
- can understand my suffering and how I am tormented.
- I look into the distance... I have no strength, my eyes grow dim...
- He who knew and loved me is far away!
- Only one who knows loneliness
- can understand my suffering and how I am tormented.
- My heart is burning...
- One who knows loneliness
- can understand my suffering and how I am tormented.
