Tchaikovsky: Six Romances, Op. 28 (1875) IV. He Loved Me So Much. Moderato (D minor)

Tchaikovsky: Six Romances, Op. 28
(1875)
IV. He Loved Me So Much (Он так меня любил)
Moderato (D 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:

IV. He Loved Me So Much (Он так меня любил) Moderato (D minor)

No, I didn't! But a strange concern
Constricted my chest when he came;
Then I blushed all over, I was afraid of something, -
He loved me so, he loved me so!

To please him then, the flowers and those outfits
I took care of what he found according to his heart;
I spoke to him, I caught his glances, -
He loved me so, he loved me so!

But since he told me: “In that grove,
Will you come at sunset?" - "Yes, I'll come!"
But there was not enough strength. I didn't go to the grove
He waited for me in vain!

Then he left, angry at his failure;
Poor man, how he must have cursed me!
I won't see him, it's hard for me, I'm crying...
He loved me so! He loved me so!
He loved me so! He loved me so!

Aleksey Apukhtin (1841–1893) — a translation (by 1875) from the French of the romance Il m'aimait tant! (by 1842) by "Madame Emile de Girardin" (= Delphine de Giradin, 1804–1855).

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:

IV. Yekaterina Massini, soprano, who performed the role of Natalya in The Oprichnik in Saint Petersburg.