Hello,
I'm searching for an English translation of the Romeo and Juliet scena that
Taneyev put together.
Thank you.
Pamela McClain
Hello Pamela,
I remember many years ago hearing the duet sung in a translation by the
English conductor Edward Downes, but I haven't seen this published.
Tchaikovsky's text was based on a translation of Shakespeare's play by
Aleksandr Lukich Sokolovskii (1837–1915), and the passage in question
comes from Act III, Scene 5 of the play, in which the lovers are enjoying
their last moments together before dawn ("Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet
near day: It was the nightingale, and not the lark, that pierced the
fearful hollow of thine ear..."). Shakespeare's original text can be
found here:
http://www.clicknotes.com/romeo/T35.html
Brett Langston
Pamela,
If by any chance you are still looking for that translation, an English
only libretto comes with the Bridge disc BCD 9034, Taneyev's Symphony no. 4 and
the duet, conducted by Peter Tiboris, available on Amazon.
Ralph Moore