Tchaikovsky
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TH 95

Six Romances

Шесть романсов

With piano accompaniment, Op. 16 (1872-73).

• Composed December 1872 - January 1873.
• Scored for high voice (Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6) or low voice (No. 3) with piano.
• Nos. 1, 4 and 5 were also arranged for solo piano by Tchaikovsky, 1873 (No. 1 in two versions).
• Average duration: 17m (set).

History

Composed by Tchaikovsky in Moscow, apparently soon after finishing work on his Second Symphony. On 2 November 1872 he wrote that: "... the symphony, which I am finishing, has absorbed me to such an extent that I haven't been able to do anything else" [3]. By 15 November the symphony was ready and copied out [4]. In letters to his father of 22 November and 9 December. Tchaikovsky reported that he was going to relax after completing his symphony. and not write anything further [5]. But on 10 December he told Modest Tchaikovsky: "Now I am forced to rest by the absence of any inspiration or inclination to compose; I did try to write some romances, nut somehow they all came out badly, and I couldn’t find words that I liked. If you aren’t particularly busy, could you send me a list of suitable verses? I’ve filled a whole ream of paper with verses, but they are all so terrible that not one of them is suitable to set to music" [6]. It seems that in December, not having found an appropriate text, Tchaikovsky wrote the words for the romance So What? (No. 5).

Modest Tchaikovsky understood that the Op. 16 romances were written in December 1872 [7]. This information is contained in a letter from Tchaikovsky to Vasilii Bessel concerning the publication of the pieces: "During his stay in Saint Petersburg [in December 1872],. Tchaikovsky often met with... members of the so-called "mighty-handful"... One evening at Rimskii-Korsakov's [8], Petr Il’ich played his new symphony on the piano, precipitating an enthusiastic response from all those present... Tchaikovsky then presented Bessel with his latest Six Romances, Op. 16, for publication. which had only just been composed ..." [9].

The Six Romances were published for the first time by Vasilii Bessel in March [10]. In letters of 4 and 7 March 1873. Tchaikovsky wrote to Bessel: "I have only just received my romances and hurried to drop you this note to urge you to sequestrate them, i.e. to withdraw all copies of these romances, since they contain some appalling printing errors. I hurriedly checked through them and saw several musical mistakes, and one literary error, sufficient in itself to spoil the whole work. Indeed in the best romance (in my opinion), No. 5, on page 4 in place of the word ‘korish’ [you find fault] the word ‘kutish’ [you get drunk] has been printed instead, which made me shudder. I implore you at once to gather together all copies and thoroughly examine the proofs, which if you want, I will do myself... The point is that I really expected No. 5 to be a success, but the word kutish has ruined any chance of that" [11]. The author's opinion that the romance So What? (No. 5) was the best of the Op. 16 set is borne out in a letter to Vasilii Bessel of 21 February 1873: "I recommended ... one of my new romances to Mme. Raab, namely So What?" [12].

On 25 March. Tchaikovsky again urged Bessel to respond to his request in respect of the proofs of the romances, and of No. 5 in particular [13].

The texts of the poems Wait (No. 2) and O, Sing that Song (No. 4) were abridged by Tchaikovsky; he also made changes to the texts of all the romances.

The Op. 16 romances are each dedicated to a different person: Cradle Song (No 1) to Nadezhda Rimskaia-Korsakova; Wait (No. 2) to Nikolai Rimskii-Korsakov; Accept Just Once (No. 3) to Herman Laroche; O, Sing that Song (No. 4) to Nikolai Hubert; So What? (No. 5) to Nikolai Rubinstein; Modern Greek Song (No. 6) to Karl Albrecht.

The romances O, Sing that Song (No. 4) and So What? (No. 5) were performed, seemingly for the first time, in December 1874 – the first by Aleksandra Krutikova, and the second by Mariia Kamenskaia [14].

Nos. 1, 4 and 5 were arranged for piano solo by the author. No information survives regarding the date of these arrangements. This work was probably carried out at Vasilii Bessels request.

Tchaikovsky made two versions of the arrangement of Cradle Song (No 1) - in A-flat minor (the original key) and A minor.

It has been suggested that Tchaikovsky also made the arrangement of the romance O, Sing me that Song (No. 4) for violin with piano, but there is no evidence to confirm this in other documents. The style of the arrangement published by Vasilii Bessel raises doubts as to whether Tchaikovsky was the author.

The arrangements of Nos. 1, 4 and 5 were first published by Vasilii Bessel in 1873.

From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), pp. 435-438
English text copyright © 2006 Brett Langston

Texts

1. Cradle Song

2. Wait!

3. Accept Just Once

4. O, Sing that Song

5. So What?

6. Modern Greek Song (on the theme "Dies irae")

Notes:

1. On the autograph and many of the printed editions the words are mistakenly attributed to Apollon Maikov [back].
2. On the title page of the autograph this romance is called In Dark Hell [В темном аде] [back].
3. Letter 275 to Modest Tchaikovsky, 2/14 November 1872 [back].
4. See letter 276 to Ivan Klimenko, 15/27 November 1872 [back].
5. Letters 277 and 279 to Il’ia Tchaikovsky, 22 November/2 December and 9/21 December 1872 [back].

6. Letter 280 to Modest Tchaikovsky, 10/22 December 1872 [back].
7. M. I. Tchaikovsky, Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского, том 1 (1900), p. 415 [back].

8. This was 20 December 1872 - see letter from Vladimir Stasov to Tchaikovsky, 30 December 1872/11 January 1873 (copy in Klin House-Museum Archive) [back].
9. See letters 284, 290 and 1386 to Vasilii Bessel, 2/14 January 1873, 21 February/5 March 1873 and 21 December 1879/2 January 1880 [back].
10. Passed by the censor on 17 January 1873 [back].
11. Letters 292 and 293 to Vasilii Bessel, 4/16 and 7/19 March 1873 [back].
12. Letter 290 to Vasilii Bessel, 21 February/5 March 1873 [back].
13. Letter 296 to Vasilii Bessel, 25 March/6 April 1873 [back].
14. See Музыкальный листок, 22 December 1874 [back].