Tchaikovsky - June: Barcarolle (Les Saisons, Op. 37a, no. 6)

The Seasons, Op. 37a (Les Saisons) is a collection of twelve short piano pieces by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, with each piece representing a different month of the year in Russia. The work became especially popular through various arrangements for orchestra and other instruments, with “Barcarolle” (June) emerging as one of its most frequently adapted pieces. A barcarolle is a traditional folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers (or a piece of music composed in that style}. The form is famous for its lyrical, lilting melody and a gently swaying rhythm that can seem like that of a boat rocking on gentle water. Tchaikovsky began composing The Seasons shortly after the premiere of his First Piano Concerto and while finishing his ballet Swan Lake. The suite was commissioned in 1875 by Nikolay Matveyevich Bernard, editor of the St. Petersburg music magazine Nouvellist. Bernard requested twelve piano pieces (one for each month} and provided subtitles for each one. Tchaikovsky accepted the commission and the subtitles, and the magazine announced that subscribers would receive a new piece from Tchaivkosky every month throughout 1876. Poetic epigraphs appearing on each of the pieces were chosen by Bernard, not by Tchaikovsky, but I still thought it was interesting to read what was chosen for June. The poetic epigraph for June is as follows: Juin (June): Barcarolle Let us go to the shore; there the waves will kiss our feet. With mysterious sadness the stars will shine down on us. (Aleksey Pleshcheyev) In case some of you are wondering why the pieces were titled in French, despite the fact that they were written by a Russian and published in a Russian music magazine, this is because of the strong influence of French culture on the Russian aristocracy and artistic circles in that time period. French was regarded as the language of high culture, art, and education among Russia's elite. Many Russian nobles spoke French fluently, sometimes even more comfortably than Russian!