Ja vas ljubil, I loved you, Alyabiev, words by Pushkin

Ja vas ljubil ( I loved you), Alyabiev,
Words by Alexander Pushkin

I loved you: and perhaps this love
in my soul has not yet died out;
But I do not wish it to trouble you any more:
I do not want to grieve you with anything.
I loved you silently, hopelessly,
now timid, now jealous;
May God grant that another someday will love you
as sincerely, as tenderly as I did. ABOUT RUSSIAN ROMANCE:

One could say that the second half of the eighteenth century was the time of the birth of the Russian Romance...

This vocal genre originated in Western Europe, particularly in XIII-XIV century Spain, where the roaming singers sang in various Romance languages, and this is the origin of the word romance.

Traditionally, there are two main kinds of the Russian romances.

The first kind includes the so-called classical or professional romances written by Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Rachmaninov and many well-known composers who lived and wrote during and after the time of Michael Glinka (1804-1857), the founder, grandfather, of Russian Classical Music.

The second kind includes the romances and songs, written around and before Glinkas time, reflecting a wide spectrum of musical tastes and influences prevalent in Russia at the mid-end of the eighteenth century: popular city songs, love songs in Italian style, as the Italians had probably the greatest influence on the development of the Russian romanticism in music, with their belcanto style of writing, cultural heritage and the sonorous nature of the Italian language.




This group also embraces numerous arrangements of gypsy songs and Russian folksongs and finally, the so-called Old Russian Romances, some of which are considered to be true classical jewels of Russian music; many of them were written by gifted amateur composers and lovers of music. Ja vas ljubil is an example of such a romance. They are less complex than the classical romances and here the accordion, piano or especially, the guitar would be an ideal instrument to accompany the singer/s... These songs would be performed in informal, more intimate settings and could be still heard in Russian homes during the dinner parties and friendly vodka get-togethers!

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Music

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• Ja vas ljubil
• I loved you
• Glinka
• Richard Hetherington