Tchaikovsky: Six Romances, Op. 28 (1875) I. No, I Shall Never Tell. Moderato quasi Andantino

Tchaikovsky: Six Romances, Op. 28
(1875)
I. No, I Shall Never Tell (Нет, никогда не назову)
Moderato quasi Andantino (E-flat major)


Tchaikovsky's Six Romances (Шесть романсов), Op. 28 (TH 99 ; ČW 238-243), were completed in April 1875 in Moscow.

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

Movements:

I. No, I Shall Never Tell (Нет, никогда не назову) Moderato quasi Andantino (E-flat major)

No, you will never know
Who do I love.
For the whole universe
I won't tell.

Let's sing! and you will
Echo my voice
That she is blond
Like a ripe ear of grain;

What she do for nothing
I won't break
And if she wants, I'll give it to her
All life and soul.

I am the torment of fiery love
I hide from her
They are insufferable, and from them
I'm dying.
But who is she... But who is she...

No, I love her, I love her so much
That let me die, that let me die, but I won't say
I'm the name of love.
Let me die, let me die, but I won't say
I'm the name of love.

Nikolay Grekov (1807–1866), from his poem Song (Песня) (1860) — a translation from the French of Chanson de Fortunio, from the comedy Le Chandelier (1835) by Alfred de Musset (1810–1857).

Composition:
The set was probably begun in April 1875 after the Six Romances and Songs, Op. 27. According to the date on the manuscript the romances were completed on 11/23 April 1875.

Publication:
The Six Romances were published for the first time by Pyotr Jurgenson in May 1875, and they were included in volume 44 of Tchaikovsky's Complete Collected Works (1940), edited by Ivan Shishov and Nikolay Shemanin.

Arrangements:
Tchaikovsky later singled out The Terrible Moment (No. 6) as one of his most popular romances, and he approved two arrangements of it by others. It was orchestrated by Sergey Taneyev in 1891, and this arrangement was published by Pyotr Jurgenson in 1892. The same romance was also arranged by Sergey Morozov for voice with cello and piano accompaniment; this arrangement was highly regarded by Tchaikovsky, and it was also published by Jurgenson, in 1882.

Autographs:
Tchaikovsky's manuscript scores of all six romances are now preserved in the Russian National Museum of Music in Moscow (ф. 88, No. 137).

Dedication:
Tchaikovsky dedicated each romance to a different operatic singer:

I. Anton Nikolayev (1836–1904), tenor.