Sergei Rachmaninov

With a text by Afansij Afanas'evic Fet (1820 - 1892), this song expressing a barely restrained passion was composed on October 17, 1890, when Rachmaninov was 17. But already the composer's particular and individual sense of tonality can be heard, a "sound" that will blossom fully developed within a decade in the first two piano concerti.

The song opens with lightly pulsing triplets played pianississimo at a Lento tempo. Suddenly a descending series of heavily accented major and minor sixths rings out of the quietude disturbing the first measure's brief sensation of tranquility in the night. The pulse ritards and then starts again but now just slightly amplified (pianissimo) and cautious.

The vocalist enters in a mood that is equally agitated, ecstatic, and puzzled. Rachmaninov constructs an elastic melody line formed of many different phrases with small patterns that internally repeat before preceding onward. This curious, obsessive structure fits perfectly with the winding emotions of the text.

The first phrase introduces a dream-like image: "In the silence of the mysterious night, your beguiling patter, smiles, glances, fleeting glances...." The piano answers the voice, and the chromatic inner lines complement the voice in both unison and contrary motion.

The piano and voice then cross each other with ascending and descending melodies in contrary motion, creating elegant and touching momentary dissonances: "the locks of your flowing hair, those locks so pliant in your fingers, I will be trying for a long time to rid myself of these images only to evoke them once again." The melody circles around, each time flying toward a higher pitch until a climactic forte at the end of the phrase. The piano diminishes in volume and tries to descend back into the initial mysterious atmosphere. But before it can do that, the voice enters again with a new pattern, causing the accompaniment to change its pulsing into more on-rushing sixteenth-note arpeggios. This patterning and agitation perfectly fits the words: "I will be repeating and correcting in a whisper the words I've spoken, words that are awkward, and, drunk with love, and contrary to all reason, I will stir the darkness of the night with your beloved name, I will stir the darkness of the night with your beloved name." On the repetition of the last line the piano becomes concerto-like and the voice reaches its highest peaks in pitch, volume, and emotion.

Very slowly, the subtle mood of the beginning returns with gently pulsing triplets in the piano, descending chromatic inner lines, and low vocal tones. "Oh, long in the silence of the mysterious night...." Then the voice and piano slowly ascend to close on an airy and crystalline texture underscoring the final line "I will stir the darkness of the night with your dear name."