Tchaikovsky: Six Romances Op. 6
(1869)
III. Bitterly and Sweetly (И больно, и сладко)
Allegro vivo (A major)

Yevdokiya Rostopchina (1812–1858), from her poem Words for Music (Слова для музыка) (1854).

It hurts and it's sweet
When at the beginning of love,
That heart will beat furtively,
That fever flows in the veins,
It hurts and it's sweet
That heat blazes in the blood ...
It hurts and it's sweet!

The hour of goodbye will strike, -
Downcast traitorous gaze,
In excitement, in the languor of ignorance
Are you afraid, you want recognition, -
And goodbye to hell!
Start and end a conversation...
And goodbye to hell!

Don't say a word...
You are numb, you are shy, you are trembling;
Soul, cursing the shackles,
Everything is ready to pour out in speech ...
No power, no word
And just look and be silent!

Both sweet and painful...
And the insane trembling subsided;
And the heart is light and spacious ...
Words would flow so freely
Both sweet and painful...
But there is no one to listen to them.
Both sweet and painful
Both sweet and painful.

Tchaikovsky's Six Romances (Шесть романсов), Op. 6 (TH 93 ; ČW 211-216), were written in Moscow in November 1869.

Instrumentation:
Scored for high voice (Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5), medium voice (No. 6) or baritone (No. 4), with piano accompaniment.

Composition:
Until mid/late November 1869, Tchaikovsky was occupied with composition of the overture Romeo and Juliet, amongst his other work. On 15/27 November, he wrote to Aleksandra Davydova: "I have been terribly busy; hurrying to finish my new overture... besides which I have quite a few other jobs to do; as a result my nerves are under considerable strain, and I intend to take some time off, i.e. to do nothing apart from my classes".

On 18/30 November 1869 in a letter to Modest Tchaikovsky, he expressed his dismay about the delay in staging of his opera Undina, writing: "While my music is being held up, I've started to write some songs to earn a little money". However, the next week he joked to Ivan Klimenko: "...had dear Dorimedontova not burst in, like some malevolent spirit fulfilling a curse, then one-sixth (of my six romances) would have been completed".

In early/mid December the composer wrote: '"My idleness (about which I wrote to you in a previous letter did not last long, and lasted only a short times and last week I wrote six romances, which are going to be printed".

Performances:
Bitterly and Sweetly (No. 3) was performed by Aleksandra Aleksandrova-Kochetova in Moscow on 14/26 March 1870, at the tenth symphony concert of the Russian Musical Society.

None but the Lonely Heart (No. 6) was apparently performed for the first time by Yelizaveta Lavrovskaya on 26 March/7 April 1870 in Moscow.

Publication:
The romances were first published by Pyotr Jurgenson in March 1870. Subsequently these romances, along with others, were frequently repeated, in their original keys, transpositions and arrangements (1873, 1876, 1884, etc.). At the end of 1890 they were published by Jurgenson in a collected edition of romances, reviewed by the author.

At the time of this reprinting, Tchaikovsky stipulated that all the songs "ought to be in their original keys. Transpositions may also be published, but the proofs must be thoroughly examined... and checked against my texts of the original romances.

Arrangements:
In 1886 Raïssa Boulanger wrote to Tchaikovsky asking for a copy of the orchestrated version of Was I Not a Little Blade of Grass in the Field? (No. 7 of the Seven Romances, Op. 47), as well as to orchestrate for her the romance Bitterly and Sweetly (Op. 6, No. 3). She evidently intended to perform these romances in public. Tchaikovsky replied to Madame Boulanger on 1/13 December 1886 promising that he would fulfil both her requests.

Autographs:
Tchaikovsky's manuscript scores of all six romances are now preserved in the Russian National Museum of Music in Moscow (ф. 88, No. 130).

Dedication:
Each of the Op. 6 romances has its own dedication:

III. Bitterly and Sweetly is dedicated to Aleksandra Aleksandrova-Kochetova.

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