"Legend" (Russian: Легенда, ''Legenda''), Op. 54, No. 5 (also known as "The Crown of Roses" in some English-language sources) is a composition by

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

. Originally written in 1883 as a

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

for solo voice and piano, it was subsequently arranged by Tchaikovsky for solo voice and orchestra (1884), and then for unaccompanied choir (1889).

Words

The words are based on the poem "Roses and Thorns" by American poet

Richard Henry Stoddard Richard Henry Stoddard (July 2, 1825May 12, 1903) was an American critic and poet. Biography Richard Henry Stoddard was born on July 2, 1825, in Hingham, Massachusetts. His father, a sea-captain, was wrecked and lost on one of his voyages while R ...

, originally published in ''

Graham's Magazine ''Graham's Magazine'' was a nineteenth-century periodical based in Philadelphia established by George Rex Graham and published from 1840 to 1858. It was alternatively referred to as ''Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine'' (1841–1842, and J ...

'' of May 1856. Stoddard's poem was translated into Russian by the poet

Aleksey Pleshcheyev Aleksey Nikolayevich Pleshcheyev (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Никола́евич Плеще́ев; 8 October 1893) was a radical Russian poet of the 19th century, once a member of the Petrashevsky Circle. Pleshcheyev's first book of p ...

and published in the Russian journal ''Sem'ia i shkola'' ("Family and School") in 1877. Pleshcheyev described the origin of the poem only as "translated from the English", without crediting Stoddard, the nature of whose contribution was thus lost. The poem was included in Pleshcheyev's anthology ''Snowdrop'' (Подснeжник; 1878), where it was found by Tchaikovsky. When "Legend" is sung by English-speaking choirs, the words used are usually those of

Geoffrey Dearmer Geoffrey Dearmer (21 March 1893 – 18 August 1996) was a British poet. He was the son of Anglican liturgist and hymnologist Percy Dearmer and the artist and writer Mabel Dearmer. School and university life Stephen Gwynn, a writer closely assoc ...

, who translated Pleschcheyev's Russian text back into English for the ''English Carol Book'' (1913). Dearmer himself was only 20 years old when he wrote the words. While Pleshcheyev's Russian lyrics are a near-literal translation of Stoddard, and also copy the original

rhyming scheme A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of so ...

ABCB, Dearmer uses considerable poetic licence and a new rhyming scheme of AABB.

Music

The song is in the key of

E minor E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major. The E natural minor scale is: : Changes needed ...

, but the lack of any

accidentals In music, an accidental is a note of a pitch (or pitch class) that is not a member of the scale or mode indicated by the most recently applied key signature. In musical notation, the sharp (), flat (), and natural () symbols, among others, ma ...

in the melody gives it a modal character. The original form of the song has a brief piano introduction and

coda Coda or CODA may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Movie coda, a post-credits scene * ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television *''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...

. This is retained in the orchestral arrangement. In the choral arrangement, the introduction is eliminated, and the piano coda is replaced by a choral coda featuring extremely low basses. The melody of the original version is shown below: \new Staff << \time 2/4 \key e \minor \relative c'' \addlyrics >> \layout The relative major (G major) is prominent in Tchaikovsky's harmonization, as the following fragment, (from the choral arrangement) illustrates: << \new Staff << \time 2/4 \key e \minor \relative c' \new Voice = "sopranos" \new Voice = "altos" \addlyrics >> \new Staff << \clef "bass" \time 2/4 \key e \minor \relative c \new Voice = "tenors" \new Voice = "basses" >> >> \layout

Performance and publication history

The original version of the music, for solo voice and piano, was published as part of Tchaikovsky's ''Songs for Children'', Op. 54, in 1884. The orchestra arrangement was made for tenor

Dmitri Usatov Dimitri Andreevich Usatov (February 22, 1847 - August 23, 1913) was a Russian tenor and vocal teacher. Born a serf to Dmitri Nikolayevich Sheremetev, he studied music with Camille Everardi at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and sang at the Bolsh ...

, who premiered it in April 1884 at the

Bolshoi Theatre The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, literally "Big Theater", p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈatər) is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds ballet and ope ...

. The choral arrangement was premiered by the Chorus of the Imperial Opera under the direction of Fyodor Becker in March 1889. Both the orchestral and choral arrangements were published in 1890. The choral arrangement was subsequently performed under Tchaikovsky's direction at one of the official opening concerts of

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

in May 1891. According to the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' review, it "made a great hit", with the composer being "called out twice after it with great enthusiasm". An English translation, "When Jesus Christ was yet a child", was made by

and published in ''The English Carol Book'' in 1913.

Legacy

The song was the basis of

Anton Arensky Anton Stepanovich Arensky (russian: Анто́н Степа́нович Аре́нский; – ) was a Russian composer of Romantic classical music, a pianist and a professor of music. Biography Arensky was born into an affluent, music-loving ...

's '' Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky'', Op. 35a (1894), for string orchestra.Sonic Labyrinth
/ref>

References

External links

*
Score of the choral arrangement, with Tchaikovsky's markings

{{DEFAULTSORT:Legend (Tchaikovsky) Compositions by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1883 compositions Compositions in E minor Art songs Choral compositions