Tchaikovsky, P. I. Was It My Mother Who Bore Me? (Ali mat' menya rozhala / Hat die Mutter zu so schwerem Leide), [1885]. For Soprano or Tenor. Op. 27, No. 5. Lifetime Edition. In Russian and German.

Чайковский П. И. Али мать меня рожала = Hat die Mutter zu so schwerem Leide : Для сопрано (или тенора) с сопровождением фортепиано : Соч. 27, № 5. / Музыка Петра Ильича Чайковского; слова Льва Александровича Мея.
Москва : П. Юргенсон, [1885].
5 с. Мягкая издательская обложка с портретом композитора, энциклопедический формат (35 см). (Серия: Романсы и песни П. Чайковского; № 11). Прижизненное издание.
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Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich. Ali mat' menya rozhala = Hat die Mutter zu so schwerem Leide : For soprano (or tenor) with piano accompaniment : Op. 27, No. 5. / Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; lyrics by Lev Alexandrovich Mey.
Moscow : P. Jurgenson, [1885].
5 pp. Soft publisher's cover with the composer's portrait, encyclopedic format (35 cm). (Series: Romances and Songs by P. Tchaikovsky; No. 11). Lifetime edition. In Russian and German.

This 1885 musical score is a rare lifetime edition of one of Tchaikovsky’s most emotionally charged vocal works. Published by the renowned Pyotr Jurgenson, this edition was part of a prestigious series of the composer's romances, intended to reach both Russian and European audiences. This edition contains the sheet music for the romance Ali mat' menya rozhala (in German translation Hat die Mutter zu so schwerem Leide), part of the cycle Six Romances (Op. 27, No. 5), composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875. The romance is written for soprano or tenor with piano accompaniment, set to a poem by Russian poet and playwright Lev Alexandrovich Mey, translated into German. The work is characterized by lyrical expressiveness, dramatic intensity, and melodic depth, typical of Tchaikovsky's vocal music.
Written during a period of significant personal and creative development, the romance captures the "folk-inflected" melancholy that Tchaikovsky often drew from Lev Mey’s poetry. The piano accompaniment is not merely supportive but acts as a dramatic partner, intensifying the themes of fate and sorrow. The inclusion of the German text (Hat die Mutter zu so schwerem Leide) by F. Bodenstedt highlights Jurgenson's strategic role in establishing Tchaikovsky as an international figure in the 19th-century Lieder tradition.
The large-format softcover is notable for the inclusion of a lithographic portrait of Tchaikovsky, a hallmark of Jurgenson's "Collected Romances" series which added a level of collectible prestige to the sheet music. For musicologists, professional vocalists, and collectors of Tchaikovskyana, this 1885 publication is a vital primary source, representing the composer's work in the exact form it was circulated during his lifetime.