Actually, the title of my message isn't quite accurate. I know where the
lyric for Tchaikovsky's "None but the lonely heart" came from - it's
Mignon's song from Goethe's novel WILHELM MEISTER'S APPRENTICESHIP.
What I'm finding difficult to learn is whether the song is more
appropriately performed in German or in Russian.
My voice teacher insists it should be done in German (Goethe's original).
However, every recording I've been able to find has been of Mey's Russian
adaptation of Goethe's poem.
I can't find any source to tell me whether Tchaikovsky actually SET the
German text, or whether he set Mey's text.
I'd actually prefer to sing it in Russian (I have an allergy to German),
but I'm also planning to use it in one of those anal-retentive academic
competitions where trivia like this matters, and choosing to sing the
"wrong" language might result in points off one's score.
(One of these days perhaps someone can explain to me why a singer has to
be able to demonstrate an ability to sing equaly well in all the major
languages, all the major musical periods, and all the major musical genres -
even though the same singer is highly unlikely to ever do so in real life.)
Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
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What lies behind us, and what lies before us
are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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