Tchaikovsky: Six Romances, Op. 28 (1875) V. No Response, or Word, or Greeting. Andante sostenuto

Tchaikovsky: Six Romances, Op. 28
(1875)
V. No Response, or Word, or Greeting (Ни отзыва, ни слова, ни привета)
Andante sostenuto (C minor)


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:

V. No Response, or Word, or Greeting (Ни отзыва, ни слова, ни привета) Andante sostenuto (C minor)

No response, or word, or greeting,
The world lies like a desert between us,
And my thought with a question without an answer
Frightened over the heart weighs!

Indeed, among the hours of longing and anger
The past will disappear without a trace
Like the light sound of a forgotten tune,
Like a fallen star in the darkness of the night?

Like the light sound of a forgotten tune,
Like a fallen star in the darkness of the night?

Aleksey Apukhtin, from an untitled poem (1867).

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:

V. Bogomir Korsov (1845–1920), baritone, who performed the role of Vyazminsky in The Oprichnik in Odessa.