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TH 106

Twelve Romances

Двенадцать романсов

With piano accompaniment, Op. 60 (1886).

No Title Key Text Dedication

1

 Last Night
Вчерашняя ночь
Скажи, о чем в тени ветвей		 A♭ major

Aleksei Khomiakov, from his poem Nachstück (I) (1841).

 Empress Mariia Fedorovna
(all 12 songs)
2 I'll Tell You Nothing
Я тебе ничего не скажу		 E major Afanasii Fet, from his poem Romance [Романс] (1885).
3 O, If Only You Knew
О, если б знали вы		 E♭ major Aleksei Pleshcheev (1884) — a translation from the French of the poem Prière by René-François-Armand Sully Prudhomme (1875) [12].
4 The Nightingale
Соловей 		C minor Aleksandr Pushkin (by 1834), from his poem of the same name — a translation of the Serbian folk-song Three Greatest Sorrows [Tri naveć tuge] in Vuk Stefanović Karadžić's collection of Serbian Folk Songs [Razlićne ženske pjesme] (1814) [11]
5 Simple Words
Простые слова 		F major "N.N." [Tchaikovsky].
6 Sleepless Nights
Ночи безумные		 G minor Aleksei Apukhtin, from an untitled poem (1876).
7 Song of a Gypsy Girl
Песнь цыганки		 A minor Iakov Polonskii, from his poem of the same name (1853).
8 Forgive!
Прости!		 F major Nikolai Nekrasov, from an untitled poem (1856).
9 Night
Ночь		 G minor Iakov Polonskii, from his poem of the same name (1850).
10 Beyond the Window, in the Shadows
За окном в тени мелькает 		F major Iakov Polonskii, from his poem The Summons [Вызор] (1844).
11 Exploit (Monologue for baritone)
Подвиг (Монолог для баритона)		 G minor Aleksei Khomiakov, from an untitled poem (1859).
12 The Gentle Stars Shone for Us
Нам звезды кроткие сияли		 F major Aleksei Pleshcheev [1], from his poem Words for Music [Слова для музыки] (1884).
  • Composed August–September 1886.
  • Scored for high voice (Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10), medium voice (Nos. 5, 12) or baritone (No. 11) with piano [2].
  • Average duration: 35m (set).

History

Written between 19/31 August and 8/20 September 1886 at Maidanovo, immediately after completing the sketches for the opera The Enchantress.

Tchaikovsky recounted the origins of these romances in a letter to Nadezhda von Meck of 3/15 September 1886: "Upon finishing the opera I immediately began writing the romances... in the spring His Highness Konstantin Konstantinovich told me that the Empress would like me to dedicate a single romance to her; His Highness having taken it upon himself to act as intermediary on her behalf, and urged me to do so" [3].

The process of composition is described in detail in the composer's diary for 1886 [4]. This contains entries for almost every day that Tchaikovsky worked on the romances, demonstrating how much difficulty they caused the composer:

  • 19/31 August: "Composed romances for the Empress. Began not particularly well..."
  • 20 August/1 September: "Composed a romance".
  • 21 August/2 September: "After tea and a stroll, wrote a romance".
  • 22 August/3 September: "I was busy before dinner composing a romance, but not without some effort..."
  • 23 August/4 September: "Before Modia and Hubert left for the station, I wrote a romance..."
  • 24 August/5 September: "While waiting for Taneev, tortured myself by writing another romance".
  • 25 August/6 September: "Wrote a romance and a letter"
  • 26 August/7 September: "After tea and a stroll around the garden wrote nearly 2 romances"
  • 29 August/10 September: "With considerable distaste I manufactured a romance. No enthusiasm, but since it's for the Empress, there must be at least 10 romances".
  • 30 August/11 September: "Weather extraordinarily beautiful. But after tea and a short walk, I still wrote a romance".

By 30 August/11 September, ten romances had been written (Nos. 2–10 and 12). "I’ve been doing an awful lot of work recently. The opera is finished, but I can’t begin the instrumentation because the notepaper I ordered isn't ready, so instead I’ve written ten romances" [5].

The fair copies of the romances were made almost as soon as they had been composed. The composer wrote of this in his diary:

  • 31 August/12 September: "I copied out the first romance"
  • 4/16 September: "Copied out a romance... Another romance ("Simple words")... Finished the copying" [6].
  • 5/17 September: "After a stroll... 2 romances before dinner... Yet more romances. Short walk... Returned to more drudgery".
  • 6/18 September: "Walking, hard work... Finished copying out one romance. Struggled vainly with more texts".
  • 7/19 September: "Copied out the last romance, but decided to compose two more... Composed... Busy... Copying out... An 11th romance to words by Khomiakov is ready".
  • 8/20 September: "Composed 12th romance to the wonderful text of The Corals, not without effort or strain... Finished the romance and copying out. By supper all the work was done".

On 9/21 September, the composer informed Modest Tchaikovsky: "I’ve now written two more songs, to round it up to an even dozen! They have all now been copied out and are on their way to Jurgenson. For the last songs I used texts by Khomiakov. What a poet he is and how charming are the two poems I selected! They're so lovely and original that I’m sure my music is much better than in all the others" [7].

In November, Tchaikovsky corrected the proofs of the romances [8]. On 10/22 November, Tchaikovsky wrote to Petr Jurgenson: "Send me... an example of a dedication to the Empress, because I don't know how it must be written. On the title page of the romances I suppose there should be the usual wording, i.e. 12 romances and songs composed by P. T., opus whatever" [9].

The romances I’ll Tell You Nothing (No. 2) and Sleepless Nights (No. 6) were performed, apparently for the first time, by Aleksandra Panaeva-Kartsova at a Philharmonic Society concert in Saint Petersburg on 5/17 March 1887.

The romances were published for the first time by Petr Jurgenson in two parts: Nos. 1–6 in December 1886 [10], and the rest in February 1887.

The romance Song of a Gypsy Girl (No. 7) was orchestrated by Sergei Taneev in 1891, and the full score was published by Petr Jurgenson in 1892.

In the romance Night (No. 9), Tchaikovsky shortened Iakov Polonskii's poem, and he also made changes to the words in O, If Only You Knew (No. 3), Night (No. 9) and The Gentle Stars Shone for Us (No. 12).

All the romances are dedicated to Mariia Fedorovna, wife of Aleksandr III.

From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), pp. 456–459
English text copyright © 2006 Brett Langston

References:
  1. On the autograph and in many editions incorrectly given as Iakov Polonskii [back]
  2. On the manuscript score of No. 3, Tchaikovsky noted: "For tenor. If transcribed up a semitone or whole tone this romance may be performed by a baritone" [back]
  3. Letter 3037 to Nadezhda von Meck, 3/15 September 1886 [back]
  4. See Дневники П. И. Чайковского (1923), pp. 88–93 [back]
  5. Letter 3036 to Anatolii Tchaikovsky, 30 August/11 September 1886 [back]
  6. See also letter 3041 to Modest Tchaikovsky, 3/15 September 1886 [back]
  7. Letter 3044 to Modest Tchaikovsky, 9/21 September 1886. See also letter 3045 to Petr Jurgenson and letter 3043 to Grand Duke Konstantinovich Romanov of the same date [back]
  8. See letters 3078, 3081, 3094 and 3104 to Petr Jurgenson, 21 October/2 November, 26 October/7 November, 10/22 November and 14/26 November 1886 [back]
  9. Letter 3094 to Petr Jurgenson, 10/22 November 1886 [back]
  10. Passed by the censor on 3/15 December 1886 [back]
  11. See Richard D. Sylvester, Tchaikovsky's Complete Songs (2002), p. 214–217. [back]
  12. See Richard D. Sylvester, Tchaikovsky's Complete Songs (2002), p. 213. [back]
See also:

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