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The Golden Cloud Did Sleep

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Trio for voices with piano by Aleksandr Dargomyzhskii, arranged for orchestra (?1876).

Catalogue References TH 189 ; ČW 418 (as "The Golden Cloud Was Sleeping")
Date (?) 1876
Text Mikhail Iur'evich Lermontov (1814–1841), from his poem The Rock (Утес) (1841)
Language Russian
Key G minor
Tempo/Section Listing Adagio (G minor, 69 bars)
Instrumentation Soprano, Tenor, Baritone voices + 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets (B), 2 Bassoons + 2 Horns (F) + Violins I, Violins II, Violas, Cellos, Double Basses
First Performance Saint Petersburg, 26 December 1876/7 January 1877, conducted by Eduard Nápravník
Autograph Location Klin: Tchaikovsky House-Museum Archive (a1, No. 142)
First Publication Moscow: Muzyka, 1970
Notes The Golden Cloud Did Sleep was written by Aleksandr Dargomyzhskii (1813–1869) in the mid 1850s, for soprano, tenor, baritone and piano accompaniment, and was first published in 1856 in Saint Petersburg.
In 1887 Tchaikovsky made his own choral setting of the same text (see TH 82)

History

On the manuscript of the orchestration, Tchaikovsky wrote: "Trio. Music by Dargomyzhskii. Orchestrated by P. Tchaikovsky". No other information has survived concerning the origins of this work.

The first performance took place in Saint Petersburg at an afternoon concert of the Russian Musical Society on 26 December 1876/7 January 1877, conducted by Eduard Nápravník. The performers were E. V. Klebek, Fedor Komissarzhevskii and Fedor Stravinskii.

From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), p. 493
English text copyright © 2006 Brett Langston


This page was last updated on 14 November 2010