Tchaikovsky: Twelve Romances, Op. 60
(1886)
XII. The Gentle Stars Shone For Us (Нам звезды кроткие сияли)
Andante tenore (F major)
Tchaikovsky's Twelve Romances (Двенадцать романсов), Op. 60 (TH 106 ; ČW 281-292), were written in August and September 1886 at Maydanovo.
Instrumentation:
Scored for high voice (Nos. 1–4, 6–10), medium voice (Nos. 5, 12) or baritone (No. 11), with piano accompaniment.
Movements and Duration:
A complete performance of the cycle lasts around 35 minutes.
XII. The Gentle Stars Shone For Us (Нам звезды кроткие сияли) Andante tenore (F major)
The gentle stars shone for us,
A gentle breeze blew,
All around the flowers were fragrant,
And the waves gently murmured
At our feet.
We were young, we loved
And with faith we looked into the distance;
Rainbow dreams lived in us,
And we were not afraid of blizzards
Gray winter.
Where are these nights with their radiance?
With fragrant beauty
And waves with a mysterious murmur,
Hopes, ecstatic dreams
Where is the light swarm?
Where is the light swarm?
The stars have faded, and sadly
Faded flowers drooped...
When, O heart, all that was,
What spring gave us with you?
Will you forget?
Will you forget?
Aleksey Pleshcheyev, from his poem Words for Music (Слова для музыки) (1884).
Composition:
Tchaikovsky recounted the origins of these romances in a letter to Nadezhda von Meck of 3/15 September 1886: "Upon finishing the opera “The Enchantress” 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".
Performances:
The romances I'll Tell You Nothing (No. 2) and Sleepless Nights (No. 6) were performed, apparently for the first time, by Aleksandra Panayeva-Kartsova at a Philharmonic Society concert in Saint Petersburg on 5/17 March 1887, in the presence of the composer.
Publication:
In November, Tchaikovsky corrected the proofs of the romances, and they were published for the first time by Pyotr Jurgenson in two parts: Nos. 1–6 in December 1886, and the rest in February 1887.
The Twelve Romances, Op. 60, were included in volume 45 of Tchaikovsky's Complete Collected Works (1940), edited by Ivan Shishov and Nikolay Shemanin.
Arrangements:
Song of a Gypsy Girl (No. 7) was orchestrated by Sergey Taneyev in 1891, and published by Pyotr Jurgenson the following year.
Autographs:
Tchaikovsky's manuscript scores of Nos. 1 to 5 and 9 to 12 are now preserved in the Russian National Museum of Music in Moscow (ф. 88, No. 144). The score of No. 6 was recently discovered in the Fondation Martin Bodmer, Bibliotheca Bodmeriana, Cologny, Switzerland.
The whereabouts of the autographs of Nos. 7 and 8 are unknown.
Dedication:
All the romances are dedicated to Empress Mariya Fyodorovna of Russia (1847–1928), wife of Tsar Alexander III. On 10/22 November 1886 Tchaikovsky wrote to Pyotr 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".
