Subject of this article is the thrilling story of the romance “Oh pourquoi donc”, titled also Les pleurs or Les pleurs des femmes (S301a), lyrics by Karolyna Pavlova.
Sources of the piece are: an autograph manuscript kept in Berlin (Staatsbibliothek zu Preussischer Kulturbesitz), a manuscript copy revised by Liszt, described in an article 1953 by Friedrich Schnapp but no more to be traced, a manuscript copy revised by Liszt newly bought by the Istituto Liszt in Bologna. Two original letters by Liszt contain references to the romance, but both are undated.
The romance was published first in Moscow 1844 by C. Grotrian, then in the third volume of the Works for fortepiano edited by Milstejn and recently by the Liszt Society Journal (1989).
The aim of the article is to hypothesize the date of birth of the romance and to illustrate the differences between the sources, especially between the “Russian” ones and that held in Bologna. The latter is the unique source which contains differences in the vocal line in the second verse in comparison with the first.
Even if the author did not succeed in revealing the secret of the romance, many new details of this piece are disclosed by her research.