Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - "None, but the Lonely Heart"

Tchaikovsky composed a set of six romances for voice and piano, Op. 6, in late 1869; the last of these songs is the melancholy "None but the Lonely Heart" (Russian: Нет, только тот, кто знал, Net, tol'ko tot, kto znal), a setting of Lev Mei's poem "The Harpist's Song," which in turn was translated from Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship.

Tchaikovsky dedicated this piece to Alina Khvostova. The song was premiered by Russian mezzo-soprano Yelizaveta Lavrovskaya in Moscow in 1870, following it with its St. Petersburg premiere the following year during an all-Tchaikovsky concert hosted by Nikolai Rubinstein; the latter was the first concert devoted entirely to Tchaikovsky's works.

It is slow, and driving like the melancholy ache that comes from not just being alone, but from lonliness. Somehow he captures the intense longing that can only be found once you’ve truly loved someone and know what is to be without.

So today, with none but myself, I choose Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s "None, but the Lonely Heart" as my, let the light in, let your love out, send in the next to be healed, song for a, lift your troubles up, do the work you were sent to do, hope that the next heart healed will be your own, Thursday.