The earliest songs recorded here—Shtile tener (1918), Volt mayn tate raykh geven (1918), Dos gold fun dayne oygn (1922), Tsela-tseldi (1922), and Viglid (Markish; 1925)—are perhaps more conventional and less adventurous than the later ones, but they are expertly composed. Volt mayn tate raykh geven and Tsela-tseldi are full of high spirits, with virtuoso piano parts and striking contrasts.
Shtile tener and the Markish Viglid are rather simple in their support of folklike yet original melodies, but they evoke an idyllic tenderness tinged with melancholia. The eight-measure postlude to Shtile tener is unique among Weiner’s songs. Here, for all its simplicity, it is deeply affecting.
Poet: Nahum Baruch Minkoff
Hushed tones,
Gloomy sky.
Birds ascend toward the clouds.
It will rain, my precious one.
Birds will fly off somewhere
With longing wings.
Dull tones,
My overcast heart—
And you, my longing, aspire to the clouds above.
It will rain, my precious one.
And you, my longing, will fly off somewhere
With soaked wings.
Poet: Nahum Baruch Minkoff
shtile tener,
khmurne himl,
feygl raysn tsu di volkns zikh,
es vet regenen, mayn kroyn.
feygl veln ergets vu farflien
mit farbenkte fligl.
mate tener,
mayn farvolknt harts—
un du, mayn benkshaft, rayst zikh tsu di volkns hoykh.
es vet regenen, mayn kroyn,
un du, mayn benkshaft, vest farflien ergets vu
mit farnetste fligl.
Performers: Elizabeth Shammash, Mezzo-soprano; Yehudi Wyner, Piano
Translations and Transliterations: Eliyahu Mishulovin
Preliminary preparations by Adam J. Levitin
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