Trivia
In the Foreword to "Verses and Versions" by Vladimir Nabokov, the author seems to suggest that Rachmaninoff had, many years after composing the work, asked him to translate the Russian text into English, which may mean that Rachmaninoff was unaware the poem was originally written in English by Edgar Allan Poe. Nabokov seems to have been unaware that Rachmaninoff did, in fact, have an English translation of Balmont's Russian translation performed, by Fanny S. Copeland, in preparation for the 1920 publication by A. Gutheil. The necessity of performing an English translation of Balmont's text (as opposed to reverting to Poe's original) can be easily explained: given that Rachmaninoff's setting of Balmont is just as free as Balmont's translation of Poe, Poe's original text is highly incongruous with Rachmaninoff's musical setting. Rachmaninoff was unquestionably aware that the poem was authored by Poe and translated by Balmont, for he made these attributions in a letter to Marietta Shaginyan announcing the completion of the work.
Read more about this topic: The Bells (symphony)
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