Tchaikovsky: Six Romances, Op. 38 (1878) II. It was in the Early Spring. Allegro moderato (E♭ major)

Tchaikovsky: Six Romances, Op. 38
(1878)
II. It was in the Early Spring (То было раннею весной)
Allegro moderato (E-flat major)


Tchaikovsky's Six Romances (Шесть романсов), Op. 38 (TH 101 ; ČW 246-251), were written between February and July 1878, after the composer completed his work on the Symphony No. 4 and Yevgeny Onegin.

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

Movements:

II. It was in the Early Spring (То было раннею весной) Allegro moderato (E-flat major)

It was in the early spring
The grass just sprouted
The streams flowed; the heat did not rise,
And the green of the groves shone;

Shepherd's trumpet in the morning
I haven't sung yet
And in curls still in the forest,
There was a thin fern;

It was in the early spring
In the shade of the birches was
when with a smile in front of me
You rolled your eyes...

That was in response to my love.
You lowered your eyelids
oh life! O forest! O sunlight!
O youth! Oh hope!

And I cried in front of you
Looking at your face, dear,
It was in the early spring
It was in the shade of birch trees!

It was in the morning of our years
Oh happiness! Oh tears!
O forest! Oh life! O sunlight!
O cool spirit of the birch!

Aleksey Tolstoy, from an untitled poem (1871).

Composition:
In February 1878, Tchaikovsky expressed his desire to compose "a variety of small pieces". "This will be something between relaxation and work". He then asked Nikolay Kashkin (through Pyotr Jurgenson) and Nadezhda von Meck to suggest appropriate texts for the romances. On 27 February/11 March, in response to his request, the latter sent the composer works by Afanasy Fet, Aleksey Tolstoy, Lev Mey, and Fyodor Tyutchev. Tchaikovsky thanked Nadezhda von Meck in a letter of 7/19 March from Clarens: "I am particularly pleased with the Tolstoy, which I like very much... In particular I am interested in Don Juan, which I read a very long time ago. I was enchanted by the section you indicated in Don Juan, and certainly I shall set it to music".

The first romance was written at Florence on 11/23 February 1878, "between lunch and dinner". This was The Love of a Dead Man (No. 5)—the only one of Tchaikovsky's romances set to words by Mikhail Lermontov. He told Nadezhda von Meck: "I wrote it because in one of your letters you mentioned to me your view of his poetry set to music. This was in February at Florence".

The second romance to be written, it seems shortly after the first, was Pimpinella. Tchaikovsky heard this song in Florence performed by a street-singer named Vittorio: "The day before leaving I listened to him once more and noted down the words and music to one song, which I am sending you with my accompaniment. Isn't it a delightful tune? And such peculiar words!". In another letter to Nadezhda von Meck, Tchaikovsky wrote that "amongst my six romances, the melody of one of them is very similar from the one I sent you last year in letter from Switzerland, just slightly altered by me and adapted to the form of a vocal number suitable for a salon concert". On 15/27 March, Tchaikovsky told Pyotr Jurgenson: "I've already done seven small pieces, two romances and the opening of a piano sonata".

The composer finished the romances in Russia, while staying at Kamenka from 11/23 April to 12/24 May 1878, at Brailov from 17/29 May to 30 May/11 June, at Kamenka from 13/25 June to 26 June/8 July, and at Verbovka from 4/16 July to 5/17 August 1878.

Tchaikovsky singled out It was in the Early Spring (No. 2) as one of his most popular romances.

Publication:
The Six Romances were published for the first time by Pyotr Jurgenson, appearing in November 1878. In 1940 they were included in volume 44 of Tchaikovsky's Complete Collected Works, edited by Ivan Shishov and Nikolay Shemanin.

Autographs:
Tchaikovsky's manuscript scores of all six romances are now preserved in the Russian National Museum of Music in Moscow (ф. 88, No. 138).

Dedication:
All the romances are dedicated to the composer's brother Anatoly Tchaikovsky.