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TH 221

Children's Songs

Песни для детей

Five projected songs (1883).

No Title Key Text Dedication
[1] Night
Ночь

Aleksei Pleshcheev, from his poem No. 6 in the cycle Summer Songs VI [Летние песни VI] (1862).

 
[2] The Vampire
Вурдалак
C major–C minor Aleksandr Pushkin, from his poem of the same name in the cycle Song of the Western Slavs [Песни западных славян] (1834) — a translation from the French of La Guzla by Prosper Mérimée (1827).  
[3] The Beggars
Нищие
Aleksei Pleshcheev, from his poem of the same name (1861).  
[4] The Poor Child
Больное дитя
Vasilii Tumanskii, from his poem of the same name (1823).  
[5] The Complaint
Жалоба
Vasilii Tumanskii, from his poem of the same name (1823).  
  • Unrealised projects dating from July–October 1883.
  • Written for high or medium voice [No. 1], or high voice [No. 2] with piano.

History

In 1883 Tchaikovsky considered using these five songs in his set of Sixteen Songs for Children, but they were not subsequently included in that collection.

Musical sketches for Nos. 1 and 2, and textual notes for No. 3 are found among sketches for the other children’s songs. Nos. 4 and 5 are referred to in the composer’s Notebook for 1883: " "If going to write children’s songs, use two texts by Tumanskii from Old Russia), July, p. 124" [1]. Vasilii Tumanskii’s poems The Poor Child and The Complaint were both published in the July 1883 edition of the journal Old Russia [Русская старина]. No musical sketches have survived for these two projected songs.

From: The Tchaikovsky Handbook, vol. 1 (2002), p. 406
Copyright © 2002 Alexander Poznansky and Brett Langston


References:
  1. Notebook No. 14 — Klin House-Museum Archive [back]