Tchaikovsky: Six Romances Op. 16 (1873) V. So What? Allegretto (F-sharp minor)

Tchaikovsky: Six Romances Op. 16
(1873) V. So What? (Так что же?)
Allegretto (F-sharp minor)


Tchaikovsky's Six Romances (Шесть романсов), Op. 16 (TH 95 ; ČW 218-223), were written in Moscow in December 1872 and January 1873.

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

Movements:

V. So What? (Так что же?) Allegretto (F-sharp minor)

Your image is bright, angelic
And day and night with me;
And tears and dreams
And terrible, terrible dreams,
You fill everything with yourself!
You fill everything with yourself!
So what? What? What?
Though torment, but love!

I am the secret of destructive passion
I bury deep;
And you reproach, you sting with shame!
You only torture me
Ruthless, rude mockery,
Ruthless, rude mockery!
So what? What? What?
Tear, love!

I am faithful to you to the grave,
But you every day, every hour
Change the poison in the heart pour
You poison my life!
No, I will not bear this torment!
No pity in your heart!
So what? What? What?

Kill but love!
Kill, but love, kill, kill me!
Kill! But love!

"N.N." (= Tchaikovsky)

Composition:
The romances were composed by Tchaikovsky in Moscow, apparently soon after finishing work on his Second Symphony. On 2/14 November 1872 he wrote that: "... the symphony, which I'm finishing off, has engrossed me so deeply that I'm not able to do anything else". By 15/27 November the symphony was ready and copied out. In letters to his father of 22 November/4 December and 9/21 December. Tchaikovsky reported that he was going to relax after completing his symphony. and not write anything further. But on 10/22 December he told Modest Tchaikovsky: "Now I am forced to rest by the absence of any inspiration or inclination to compose; I did try to write some romances, but somehow they all came out badly, and I couldn't find words that I liked. If you aren't particularly busy, could you send me a list of suitable verses? I've filled a whole ream of paper with verses, but they are all so terrible that not one of them is suitable to set to music". It seems that in December, not having found an appropriate text, Tchaikovsky wrote the words himself for the romance So What? (No. 5).

Modest Tchaikovsky understood that the Op. 16 romances were written in December 1872. This information is contained in a letter from Tchaikovsky to Vasily Bessel concerning the publication of the pieces: "During his stay in Saint Petersburg [in December 1872] Tchaikovsky often met with... members of the so-called "mighty-handful"... One evening at Rimsky-Korsakov's, Pyotr Ilyich played his new symphony on the piano, precipitating an enthusiastic response from all those present... Tchaikovsky then presented Bessel with his latest Six Romances, Op. 16, for publication. which had only just been composed".

The author's opinion that the romance So What? (No. 5) was the best of the Op. 16 set is borne out in a letter to Vasily Bessel of 21 February/5 March 1873: "I recommended ... one of my new romances to Madame Raab, namely So What?".

Performances:
The romances O, Sing that Song (No. 4) and So What? (No. 5) were performed, seemingly for the first time, in December 1874 – the first by Aleksandra Krutikova, and the second by Mariya Kamenskaya.

Publication:
The Six Romances were published for the first time by Vasily Bessel in March 1873, along with the composer's piano arrangements of Nos. 1, 4 and 5. In letters of 4/16 March and 7/19 March 1873. Tchaikovsky wrote to Bessel: "I have only just received my romances and hurried to drop you this note to urge you to sequestrate them, i.e. to withdraw all copies of these romances, since they contain some appalling printing errors. I hurriedly checked through them and saw several musical mistakes, and one literary error, sufficient in itself to spoil the whole work. Indeed in the best romance (in my opinion), No. 5, on page 4 in place of the word korish (кориш) [you find fault] the word kutish (кутиш) [you get drunk] has been printed instead, which made me shudder. I implore you at once to gather together all copies and thoroughly examine the proofs, which if you want, I will do myself... The point is that I really expected No. 5 to be a success, but the word kutish has ruined any chance of that".

Autographs:
Tchaikovsky's manuscript scores of all six romances are now preserved in the Russian National Museum of Music in Moscow (ф. 88, No. 131). The same archive also holds the autograph of Tchaikovsky's arrangement of No. 5 for solo piano (ф. 88, No. 132).

Dedication:
Each of the Op. 16 romances is dedicated to a different person:

V. So What? is dedicated to Nikolay Rubinstein.