Six Romances, Opus 38 (Tchaikovsky)

Not to be confused with other sets of six songs by Tchaikovsky.

The opus Six Romances was composed in 1878 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893) for voice and piano, and was published as Opus 38 later that year. Of these six songs, "Don Juan's Serenade" was the most successful, becoming one of the best-known works among the approximately 100 romances that Tchaikovsky composed during his lifetime.^[1]

At this point in his life, the composer was rebounding from a personal crisis, having married and quickly separated the year before. Tchaikovsky characterized the creation of this opus as "something between relaxation and work".^[2]

List of six songs

Opus 38 consists of the following six songs, with tempo indicated in Italian:

1. Don Juan's Serenade (Серенада Дон-Жуана), Allegro non tanto (B minor, 164 bars)
2. It was in the Early Spring (То было раннею весной), Allegro moderato (E♭ major, 101 bars)
3. Amid the Din of the Ball (Средь шумного бала), Moderato (B minor, 99 bars)
4. O, If Only You Could (О, если б ты могла), Allegro agitato (D major, 38 bars)
5. The Love of a Dead Man (Любовь мертвеца), Andante non tanto (F major, 129 bars)
6. Pimpinella: Florentine Song (Пимпинелла: Флорентинская песня), Allegretto molto moderato (G major, 135 bars)

Origin of lyrics

The lyrics of the first four songs are from writings of Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy (1817 – 1875), the Russian poet, novelist and playwright.^[3] For example, the first song is based on Tolstoy's 1862 drama Don Juan.

The lyrics for "The Love of a Dead Man" are from Mikhail Lermontov (1814 – 1841), the Russian writer, poet and painter. And, the lyrics for "Pimpinella" are by Tchaikovsky, based upon a Florentine popular song.^[3]

Composition and dedication

The six songs are not in chronological order of composition. He wrote the last two ("The Love of a Dead Man" and "Pimpinella") while visiting Florence in February and March 1878, respectively.^[4][5] Later, he wrote the first four songs (based on Tolstoy) in May 1878 while visiting the Ukrainian estate of his benefactor, Nadezhda von Meck (1831 – 1894), who previously suggested he might want to put Tolstoy to music.^[5]

The opus was dedicated to Anatoly, one of the composer's brothers, in gratitude for helping Tchaikovsky through a difficult emotional period in 1877. It was during that year when the composer married and separated from Antonina Miliukova (1848 – 1917).^[6]