Twelve Persian Songs (Rubinstein)
The words of Anton Rubinstein's Twelve Persian Songs (TH 334 ; ČW 633-644) [1] were translated from German to Russian by Tchaikovsky in December 1869, at the request of Pyotr Jurgenson [2]:
- Nicht mit Engeln (Зулейка)
- Mein Herz schmückt sich (Как на земле)
- Seh' ich deine zarten Füsschen (Как увижу твои ножки)
- Es hat die Rose sich beklagt (Розан)
- Die Weise guter Zecher ist (Тому, кто хочет жить)
- Ich fühle deinen Odem (Нас по одной дороге)
- Schlag' die Tschadra zurück (Скинь чадру с головы)
- Neig', schöne Knospe (Нераспустившийся цветочек)
- Gelb rollt mir zu Füssen (Кубится волною)
- Die helle Sonne leuchtet (Над морем солнце)
- Thu' nicht so spröde (Не будь сурова)
- Gott hiess die Sonne glühen (Велел Создатель)
Anton Rubinstein's Lieder des Mirza-Schaffy, Op. 34 (1851), were set to words by "Mirza-Shaffi" — actually a pseudonym of the German writer Friedrich Bodenstedt (1819-1892). In 1877 Tchaikovsky wrote to Nadezhda von Meck: "Rubinstein's Persian Songs were set to a German text by the poet Bodenstedt. Bodenstedt (a translator of Lermontov and Pushkin) wrote some verses in imitation of Hafiz and invented the name of Mirza-Shaffi, an imaginary author of Persian plays, for them. I happen to know that Bodenstedt (whom I met last year in Bayreuth) knows no Persian. I did the translation from the German" [3].
Tchaikovsky's translations of the songs were published by Pyotr Jurgenson in 1870 [4].
The manuscript of Tchaikovsky's translation is now preserved in the Russian National Museum of Music in Moscow (ф. 88, No. 176) [view].
External Links
- Internet Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) — downloadable scores
Notes and References
- ↑ Entitled "Persian Songs" in ČW.
- ↑ See Letter 171 to Vasily Bessel, 21 December 1869/2 January 1870.
- ↑ Letter 679 to Nadezhda von Meck, 6/18 December 1877.
- ↑ Passed by the censor on 18 February/2 March 1870.
