Dear Don
(please post) :
It is true
that among the German poetry that VN liked was much of Heine’s work. He did
translate into Russian at least five Heine texts, used by Schubert and Schumann
for some of their most famous songs (here Alex errs slightly), for performance
in Yalta by a singer who, with her husband, was a friend of the Nabokovs’. One
was “Ich grolle nicht…”
(“Net, zloby net...”) from the Dichterliebe
cycle by Schumann. Another was Doppelgaenger
(“Tikhaya noch…”)
by Schubert.
The Russian texts are unpublished and I believe I have the only extant copies,
although I don’t exclude that the originals went to the Berg. I have performed
four of the songs, at the Cornell Nabokov festivities and
elsewhere.
Exigencies
of time force me to write this from memory. If you and the List find the matter
of interest, I can supply more detailed information after checking my
records.
Best
greetings,
DN