singer, one-man choir, guitarist and composer
Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt – alto (or baritone) and guitar
SM-000085730
- Alternative title
- Нет, только тот, кто знал
- Composer
- Pyotr Tchaikovsky
-
Arranger
-
David W Solomons
-
Lyricist
-
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Publisher
- David W Solomons
- Genre
- Classical / Song
- Instrumentation
- Contralto, Countertenor, Baritone, Classical guitar
- Scored for
- Duo
- Type of score
- Score for two performers
- Duration
- 3'20"
- Language
- German
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Year of composition
- 1985
Description
Arranged for alto and guitar - sound sample performed by me
Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt,
weiß was ich leide!
Allein und abgetrennt
von aller Freude,
seh ich ans Firmament nach jener Seite.
Ach! Die mich liebt und kennt,
ist in der Weite.
Es schwindelt mir, es brennt
mein Eingeweide.
Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt
weiß was ich leide!
This poem appeared in Goethe's novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship). It is one of the songs of Mignon, a character in that novel.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed a set of six romances for voice and piano, the last being the melancholy "Harpist's Song" Нет, только тот, кто знал...
poem by by Lev Aleksandrovich Mey (1822-1862), this being a translation from Goethe's poem.
(The English version "None but the Lonely Heart" is also often used, but I have been unable to establish the copyright status of that version).
My arrangement for alto and guitar uses only Goethe's original German poem, but if anyone would like to use Lev Mey's Russian version, it is here:
Нет, только тот,
кто знал свиданья, жажду,
поймёт, как я страдал
и как я стражду.
Гляжу я вдаль...
нет сил, тускнеет око...
Ах, кто меня любил
и знал - далеко!
Ах, только тот,
кто знал свиданья жажду,
поймёт, как я страдал
и как я стражду.
Вся грудь горит...