Tchaikovsky: Six Romances and Songs, Op. 27 (1875) I. At Bedtime. Adagio misterioso (B-flat minor)

Tchaikovsky: Six Romances and Songs, Op. 27
(1875)
I. At Bedtime (На сон грядущий)
Adagio misterioso (B-flat minor)


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

Movements:

I. At Bedtime (На сон грядущий) Adagio misterioso (B-flat minor)

Night darkness silence brings
And calls me to rest.
It's time, it's time! The body asks for rest
The soul is tired in the whirlwind of the day.

I beg you, before the coming sleep, God:
Give people peace; bless
A baby's dream, and a beggar's bed,
And silent tears of love!

Forgive sin, burning suffering
Breathe calmly
And all your sad creatures
At least deceive with a dream!

And all your sad creatures
Though deceive with a dream
At least deceive with a dream!

Nikolay Ogaryov (1813–1877), from his poem of the same name (early 1840s?).

Composition:
The history of these romances is undocumented. They were probably composed sometime between mid/late March (after the Six Romances, Op. 25) and 7/19 April 1875 (the date they were received by Pyotr Jurgenson, as noted on the manuscript).

Performances:
The romance Evening (No. 4) was performed, possibly for the first time, by Aleksandra Svyatlovskaya in Moscow on 17/29 December 1876, at the sixth symphony concert of the Russian Musical Society.

Publication:
The romances were published by Pyotr Jurgenson in May 1875. A new edition, containing the second version of My Spoiled Darling (No. 6), was issued by Jurgenson in August 1892.

The set (including both versions of No. 6) was published in volume 44 of Tchaikovsky's Complete Collected Works (1940), edited by Ivan Shishov and Nikolay Shemanin.

Arrangements:
The romance Do Not Leave Me (No. 3) was orchestrated by Sergey Taneyev in 1891, and this arrangement was published by Pyotr Jurgenson in 1892.

Autographs:
Tchaikovsky's manuscript scores of all six romances are now preserved in the Russian National Museum of Music in Moscow (ф. 88, No. 136).

The same archive also holds Sergey Taneyev's autograph arrangement of Do Not Leave Me (No. 3) for voice and orchestra, containing annotations by Tchaikovsky (ф. 85, No. 38).

Dedication:
All the romances are dedicated to Yelizaveta Lavrovskaya.