Six Romances, Opus 38 (Tchaikovsky)

The opus Six Romances was composed in 1878 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893)
for voice and piano, and was published as Opus 38 later that year. Of these six songs, "Don
Juan's Serenade" was the most successful, becoming one of the best-known works among the
approximately 100 romances that Tchaikovsky composed during his lifetime.[1]

At this point in his life, the composer was rebounding from a personal crisis, having married
and quickly separated the year before. Tchaikovsky characterized the creation of this opus as
"something between relaxation and work"

LIST

1. Don Juan's Serenade (Серенада Дон-Жуана), Allegro non tanto (B minor, 164 bars)
2. It was in the Early Spring (То было раннею весной), Allegro moderato (E♭ major,
101 bars)
3. Amid the Din of the Ball (Средь шумного бала), Moderato (B minor, 99 bars)
4. O, If Only You Could (О, если б ты могла), Allegro agitato (D major, 38 bars)
5. The Love of a Dead Man (Любовь мертвеца), Andante non tanto (F major, 129 bars)
6. Pimpinella: Florentine Song (Пимпинелла: Флорентинская песня), Allegretto molto
moderato (G major, 135 bars)

The lyrics of the first four songs are from writings of Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy (1817
– 1875), the Russian poet, novelist and playwright.[3] For example, the first song is based on
Tolstoy's 1862 drama Don Juan.

The lyrics for "The Love of a Dead Man" are from Mikhail Lermontov (1814 – 1841), the
Russian writer, poet and painter. And, the lyrics for "Pimpinella" are by Tchaikovsky, based
upon a Florentine popular song.

The six songs are not in chronological order of composition. He wrote the last two ("The
Love of a Dead Man" and "Pimpinella") while visiting Florence in February and March 1878,
respectively.[4][5] Later, he wrote the first four songs (based on Tolstoy) in May 1878 while
visiting the Ukrainian estate of his benefactor, Nadezhda von Meck (1831 – 1894), who
previously suggested he might want to put Tolstoy to music.[5]

The opus was dedicated to Anatoly, one of the composer's brothers, in gratitude for helping
Tchaikovsky through a difficult emotional period in 1877. It was during that year when the
composer married and separated from Antonina Miliukova.