Tchaikovsky: Six Romances, Op. 28 (1875) II. The Corals. Moderato assai (F # minor)

Tchaikovsky: Six Romances, Op. 28
(1875)
II. The Corals (Корольки)
Moderato assai (F-sharp 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:

II. The Corals (Корольки) Moderato assai (F-sharp minor)

How I went with the Cossacks
Hanna said:
For you I am crying
God begged:
You will return from the first battle
Cheerful and healthy -
Bring it to me for prayers
A thread of kinglets!

God sent us chieftain:
Right away we broke
To smithereens, the whole army of the Khan,
Has the city been filled?
They knocked down strong gates -
A feast for the Cossacks!
I have one concern:
A thread of kings!

Suddenly she flashed into her eyes -
To know, to know the Almighty helped -
And she slipped into my handful
Scarlet, large cherry.
I tightly squeezed the prey,
Yes, and it was:
He whistled straight to Hanna with the steppe
With a thread of kings.

And I did not ask the ford,
Corduroy road or a bridge...
Ringing at our parish;
People bring down from the graveyard -
And the whole mass shouts to me
Hundred voices:
“Hanna is there - and she doesn’t need
Threads of kinglets!

Heart sank, dying
In a crushed chest
And fell off his horse, crying,
I'm in front of the icon! About the pasture
I prayed without words
And hung on the salary
A thread of kings.

Lev Mey (1822–1862), from his poem The Corals. A Song (Корольки. Песня) (1861) — a translation of the Polish ballad Korale: Dumka kozacka (by 1854) by Władysław Syrokomla (1823–1862).

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:

II. Aleksandr Dodonov (1837–1914), tenor and singing teacher, who premiered the role of Andrey in The Oprichnik in Moscow.