Mezza notte

Tchaikovsky Research
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Mezza notte (TH 91 ; ČW 209) is an Italian romance written by Tchaikovsky probably in 1860 or 1861, around the time that he was acquainted with the Italian vocal tutor Luigi Piccioli.

Instrumentation

Scored for soprano or tenor voice with piano accompaniment.

Movements and Duration

There is one movement: Leggerio (G major, 54 bars), lasting around two minutes in performance.

Text

The source of the Italian text used by Tchaikovsky has not been identified.

Poco è l'ora ormai lontana,
Palpitando il cor l'aspetta,
Già rimbomba la campana...
E tu dormi, o mia diletta?
Ti fuggi forse del cor:
Mezza notte è il nostro amor,
Notte è il nostro amor.

Pari a nota di liuto
Nel silenzio di quest'ora
Odo il timido saluto
Di colei che m'innamora
E ripeto a quel tenor:
Mezza notte è il nostro amor,
Notte è il nostro amor.

Amor misero e verace
Delle tenebre si giova,
Tace il mondo ed ei non tace,
Ma il suo gemito rinnova
Fin che spuntò il primo albor:
Mezza notte è il nostro amor,
Notte è il nostro amor.

Composition

Nothing is known about the composition of Mezza notte, although it seems likely that it was written under the influence of his singing master Luigi Piccioli. In his Autobiography (1890), Tchaikovsky recalled that:

I was seventeen years old when I made the acquaintance of an Italian singing master called Piccioli. He was the first person to take an interest in my musical gifts. The influence which he acquired over me was tremendous: even to this day I have not yet fully outgrown his sphere of influence. Piccioli was an inveterate enemy of German music, which he regarded as "clumsy, empty, and pedantic", whilst he professed an exaggerated fondness for Italian music. Consequently I became an enthusiastic admirer of Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti, and, simple-minded as I was, I imagined that Mozart and Beethoven were ideal for sending one to sleep, and that there was nothing emptier than an opera by Mozart or a symphony by Beethoven. Now, in that regard, I have certainly undergone a considerable transformation, and yet, even though my predilection for Italian music has calmed down rather, and, most importantly, lost much of its former exclusivity and become more judicious, to this day I still feel a certain satisfaction when I hear the richly ornamented arias, cavatinas, and duets of Rossini with all their roulades, and there are some melodies of Bellini which I can never hear without my eyes filling with tears.

Publication

Mezza notte was Tchaikovsky's first published work. It appeared in the series Musée musical, published in Saint Petersburg by Yury Leibrock (Leybrok), and was unknown until a copy of the edition was discovered in 1903, ten years after the composer's death. Leibrock's edition is undated, but its style was consistent with scores printed in the late 1850s or early 1860s.

In 1940, Mezza notte was published (with a Russian translation) in volume 44 of Tchaikovsky's Complete Collected Works, edited by Ivan Shishov and Nikolay Shemanin. This was based on the only extant copy of Leibrock's edition—discovered in 1926 in the archives of Jurgenson's publishing house in Moscow—which was subsequently lost.

Autographs

The whereabouts of Tchaikovsky's manuscript score are unknown.

Recordings

See: Discography

External Links