Listen to the new soundtrack “AFANASY FET – THE RUSSIAN CHANSONNIER” (Hӓssler. Sonata A minor)” performed by Asya Lazar ARDOVA. It will appear at the page ardSOUND of ardisonata.net after the final reconstruction of the player, but now you may press this link below and listen to it on my Soundcloud page (supporting ardisonata.net by pcf1.ru): 

 https://soundcloud.com/user-690812859/afanasy-fet_the_russian_chansonnier-hassler

Afanasy Fet was born 200 hundred years ago and exploded the Russian poetry with the sincerity of unmasked expressions. His confessions in love to nature, or lady are most ample by the anguishing emotions, they are filled with. He doesn’t care of being clumsy, or non-exquisite. His colours are as juicy as the ones in the pictures of his contemporaries, painters Ivan Aivazovsky and Nikolai Chernetsov. 

Plenty of romances, songs and choruses were and are being composed to Fet’s poems. Hopefully, the translations of Fet’s verses, made by me, Asya Ardova, will attract English-speaking artists to this wonderful Russian poet.

I’d like to admit, that although there is reminded of Vincenzo Bellini’s opera “Norma”, having captivated the Russian high society in the 19^th century almost for good, I’ve chosen not less captivating music by the composer Johann Hӓssler, who came to StPetersburg in the end of the 18^th century and from 1794 lived in Russia, especially that the first sonatas originated from canzonas, or chanson. I dare to suppose, that Bellini could hear his music. Anyway the genre of Italian canzona, common for both composers and rooted in the minds of that romantic age, induced Fet to think of its Russian interpretation. And he did it.

 

 

Nikolai Chernetsov. View to the Saratov City at the Sunset. 1840ies

 

Afanasy FET

Translated by Asya Ardova

 

Whirling spurs behind the boat,

That is cutting waves around,

Gentle tunes caressing throat,

What’s so sweet, but “Norma” sound?

 

Milky Way is stirring water,

Rising vigour inside my soul.

So impetuous’ my floating,

Chasing Moon’s – like honey bowl.

 

Spurs are whirling, tunes – caressing,

Overtones splash all around,

Scattered pearls behind my vessel,

What’s so sweet, but “Norma” sound?

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Ivan Aivazovsky. Gulf of Naples on a moonlit Night. Vesuvio. 1840ies

Afanasy FET

Translated by Asya Ardova

We were running away from the crowd,

We escaped from its paws all in spite,

And we two got the refuge throughout,

While the third was that azure-blue night.

 

Poor heart, so alarmed with the hope,

Quenching thirst and so loving inside,

Two have reached their lonely abode,

While the third is this azure-blue night.

 

Oh, this feeling – so tender and silent,

Piercing sky and aspiring flight,

Love is based on the power of trident –

Only two – and the azure-blue night.

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Instead of La Coda

Meanwhile, sometimes Fet's love poems give evidence of someone third to be there…This glance from aside is felt in the poem Azure-blue Night, all the more so, that the words Night and Knight are homophones. And quite of a sudden the canvas ‘Musical Party – Concerto” by the Italian painter Mattia Preti (17^th century) came to my mind. Here you may notice a knight clad in full amour, taking part in home dinner concert.

Oh, this feeling – so tender and silent,

Piercing sky and aspiring flight,

Love is based on the power of trident –

Only two – and the azure-blue Knight.

 

 Such kind of mystery, the sense of a hidden witness, where only two seem to exist, had been peculiar to the Baroque artists, such as Mattia Preti (17^th century), the Calabrian Knight, Il Cavalier Calabrese, and the Knight of Malta, the St. John’s Order, the representatives of which influenced greatly and positively to the Petersburgian culture.