Flying Lovers of Vitebsk: Music and Lyrics
The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk is filled with music, with lyrics in Yiddish, Russian, French, and English, reflecting not only where Marc and Bella came from, but the places where they sought refuge.
SONG 1
The play begins with a song called “Making Believe” sung in both English and French and performed below by Ella Fitzgerald.
SONG 2
Though Marc and Bella both admitted to “love at first sight” after meeting in 1909, Marc left Vitebsk for four years to pursue his artistic career. They express their longing in Russian:
Vsyo n’e spitza, n’e siditza
N’et pakoya na dushe
Vsyo n’e spitza, n’e siditza
N’et pakoya na dushe
Vdal’ menya kuda-to t’yanet
Pa shirokomu shasse
Vdal’ menya kuda-to t’yanet
Pa shirokomu shasse
Which translates to:
I can’t sleep, I can’t sit,
There is no peace in my soul.
I can’t sleep, I can’t sit,
There is no peace in my soul.
I’m being drawn somewhere into the distance
Along the wide road.
I’m being drawn somewhere into the distance
Along the wide road.
SONG 3
Sung in Yiddish, before Marc and Bella leave Russia for good, the lyrics of “No One Knows It” are drawn from a poem by Rachel (Rokhl) Korn:
No one knows it, not even you
But since the day when I came to this town
Longing has been roaming over all the streets
And all the trees are greener with a new secret.
No one knows it, not even you
That wherever I go, I carry your glance,
Like an amulet with an engraved spell,
The spell for a fate so near and so far.
No one knows it, not even you
That when I am alone in my quiet hours,
Then do I lead my fingertips over my lips
And take from them your name, like a prayer.
SONG 4
Sung in Russian, Marc and Bella sing the following at their wedding: