Russian Romances

For Voice and Guitar

The twenty seven songs assembled in this anthology represent several facets of this unique genre, the so-called Russian romance. The genre ranges from the art songs by classical composers such as Mikhail Glinka, Alexander Dargomyzhsky and Peter Tchaikovsky, the songs composed by lesser lights such as Alexander Varlamov, Alexander Alyabyev, Alexander Dubuque and Alexander Gurilyov, and also the songs sung and danced to by urban Gypsy musicians in popular entertainment establishments. Whether composed by the great composers, or by numerous dilettantes whose names were often obscured with acronym abbreviations and forgotten, the lyricism of the Russian romance is immediately recognizable, even by people who are not quite familiar with Russian culture. As often discussed in the scholarly literature, we are faced with a unique phenomenon of many unforgettable romances by forgotten poets and composers. The present anthology is intended to be used by singers with a low voice, but it could also be used by high voices. In the latter cases the guitarist would have to use a capo (usually on the third fret), so as to accommodate the range of the singer. The volume contains an historical Introduction by Matanya Ophee (bi-lingual English-Russian), a detailed pronunciation guide for non-Russian speakers, and a line by line (non-singable) translation into English of all the lyrics.