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TH 94

To Forget So Soon

Забыть так скоро

Song with piano accompaniment (?1870).

  • Text by Aleksei Apukhtin, from his poem of the same name (?1870).

  • Composed by October 1870.
  • Scored for high voice with piano.
  • Dedicated to Aleksandra Panaeva-Kartsova.
  • Average duration: 3m.

History

In a letter of 26 October 1870, the composer told Ivan Klimenko: "I have written three new pieces, a romance, something for an opera, and have completely revised the overture to Romeo" [1].

The romance referred to was, evidently, To Forget so Soon. According to the memoirs of Aleksandra Panaeva-Kartsova [2], it was composed in the early 1870s. She recalled that the text of Aleksandr Apukhtin’s poem was considerably altered by Tchaikovsky, which was the cause of a dispute between the two friends. The autograph of the poem, except for the third stanza, has been lost.

It is possible that the original draft of the romances was made earlier, in 1867 or 1868, since it is to be found among sketches for the opera The Voevoda. These preserved sketches have clearly been later reworked. The most important revision came at the romance's climax - "Forget love, forget dreams...". In the definitive version of the romance, Tchaikovsky also made additional changes in the vocal part, added and removed repeats. etc.

The romance 'To forget so soon' was published for the first time in November 1873 by Petr Jurgenson [3]. It appears to have been performed for the first time by Aleksandra Aleksandrova-Kochetova in Moscow, in the Little Hall of the Nobles’ Society, on 16 March 1871.

The romance is dedicated to Aleksandra Panaeva-Kartsova.

From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), p. 435
English text copyright © 2006 Brett Langston

Text

Забыть так скоро, боже мой,
Все счастье жизни прожитой!
Все наши встречи, разговоры,
Забыть так скоро, забыть так скоро!

 

Забыть волненья первых дней,
Свиданья час в тени ветвей!
Очей немые разговоры,
Забыть так скоро, забыть так скоро!

 

Забыть, как полная луна
На нас глядела из окна,
Как колыхалась тихо штора...
Забыть так скоро, забыть так скоро, так скоро!

 

Забыть любовь, забыть мечты,
Забыть те клятвы помнишь ты, помнишь ты, помнишь ты?
В ночную пасмурную пору, в ночную пасмурную пору,
Забыть так скоро, забыть так скоро!
Боже мой!

 

А. Н. Апухтин

  
Notes:
  1. Letter 213 to Ivan Klimenko; the other works referred to were the Three Pieces Op. 9, for piano, the opera The Oprichnik, and the overture-fantasia Romeo and Juliet [back].
  2. See Fedor Malinin’s unpublished article on Apukhtin’s "To Forget So Soon", which contains extracts from Aleksandra Panaeva-Kartsova’s memoirs (Klin House-Museum Archive) [back].
  3. Passed by the censor on 25 September 1873 [back].