Tchaikovsky's Complete Songs: A Companion with Texts and Translations

Canadian Slavonic Papers, Sep-Dec 2003 by Woodside, Mary

Richard D. Sylvester. Tchaikovsky's Complete Songs: A Companion with Texts and Translations. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2002. xiii, 349 pp. CD, Bibliography, Discography.

For anyone with the least trace of interest in music, this book is a genuine treasure. For the first time, in Russia or the West, the texts of Tchaikovsky's one hundred and three songs are presented in toto, with six duets thrown in for good measure. Far beyond a performance manual for the professional singer (although of definite value for this purpose as well), the author has presented each of the songs in a setting which enhances its beauty by shining a light on each of its facets.

The poems are presented chronologically, grouped into their opus numbers of two to six songs (except in one case where the publications of a single year (1875) are grouped together). For those readers who wish to follow a musical score, the songs follow the order of volumes 44 and 45 of the Complete Works edition of Tchaikovsky's works published in Moscow and Leningrad, 1940. Sylvester has written introductions to each set of songs, relating them in various ways to current research. For example, his commentary might emphasize the biographical details of composer or author of the text, wider cultural correspondences, details concerning the first publication or first performance, the reception history in Russian or the West, or the relationship to Tchaikovsky's works in some other genre. The longer introductions touch on all of these.

Another layer of commentary is provided for each individual song, perhaps giving more biographical detail, or explaining the relationship of its text with the original poem, or its music with other composers' settings. There are perceptive discussions of the way in which the music corresponds to the text, or the ways in which the composer re-interprets the poem, or why he selects certain stanzas while omitting others. This is followed by the text of the poem itself, first in the original Cyrillic and then twice more, for the benefit of those who need it, in parallel transliteration and English translation. These latter two presentations allow the English-only readers/listeners to follow a recording and understand what is being sung, but are not intended to present a 'singing' version.

While avoiding the pitfall of following a single procedure for the introduction to each song, the end of each entry is consistent in providing the pertinent details for text, poetic metre, musical parameters of key, metre, tempo, and voice range and lists the singers who have recorded that item.

This last entry is backed up by a thirty-two page section dealing with the recordings and singers of Tchaikovsky's songs. In addition to giving important details of record labels and biographies of many singers of Tchaikovsky's songs from Chaliapin to Nelson Eddy, from Nikolay Figner to Marion Anderson, this is an exhaustive listing of Tchaikovsky song recordings, and often includes a critical review of individual performances. It is followed by a bibliography and several indices.

Finally, well worth the price of entry, the crown jewel: a CD presenting historic as well as recent recordings of twenty-two of Tchaikovsky's songs. Hearing these for the first time is a revelation, a reminder of the enormous importance of the quality of performance to the appreciation of a musical work. These songs are sung with unmistakable reverence for the composer and his music. Whether or not you understand Russian, you will find them a fine offering to a beautiful language.

Mary Woodside, University of Guelph