ORR232_ Book.qxd

minded, sophisticated circle always surrounding Pauline, Fet spent happy
hours talking with Turgenev. Fet, in his memoirs (Moi Vospominaniya,
Moscow, 1890) recalled the beauty of the chateau, the sunny autumn days
spent walking, picking fruit, and then the evenings, always with readings, and
music. Later, when he heard Pauline sing in Russian at one of her Paris
concerts (Turgenev and Tolstoy were both present), he wrote: ‘That
unexpected, masterly Russian singing aroused in me such rapture that I had to
restrain myself from some mad escapade.’
Ich starrte und stand unbeweglich, I stand and stare motionless,
Den Blick zu den Sternen gewandt, my gaze turned to the stars,
Und da zwischen mir und den and an intimate bond weaves
Sternen itself
Sich wob ein vertrauliches Band. between me and them.
Ich dachte ... weiß nicht, was I imagine ... I don’t know what I
ich dachte ... imagine ...
Fern klang’s wie ein seliger Chor, In a distant sound like a blessed choir,
Leis’ bebten die goldenen Sterne, the golden stars sweetly tremble.
Nun lieb’ ich sie mehr als zuvor! Now I love them more than before,
Die Sterne, den seligen Chor. the stars, the blessed choir.
–69–