None but the lonely heart = (Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt)

Originally a song composed in 1869, setting a Russian translation of Goethe's poem "Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt" (Only one who knows longing) from his novel Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. The words are sung in the novel by Mignon, a character marked by isolation and yearning, themes that clearly resonated with Tchaikovsky. The piano version heard here transcribes that aching vocal line for solo piano, and the song has remained one of Tchaikovsky's most enduringly performed and arranged short works, in versions for countless different instruments and voices.