Tchaikovsky: Legend (The Crown of Roses)

The song that we often refer to as Tchaikovsky's Legend or "The Crown of Roses" comes from his Songs for Children, published in 1884. The same year, an arrangement was made for tenor and orchestra, and a few years later a choral version was made as well, both by the composer himself. The text is a bit of a roundabout story in that it is an American poem by Richard Henry Stoddard from 1856 which was translated into Russian by Aleksey Pleshcheyev in 1877 and published in an anthology called "Snowdrop" which Tchaikovsky read. It did not credit the original poet, just saying it was "translated from the English." It is this version that Tchaikovsky set, but because the meter does not match the English version, when it is sung in English a version by Geoffrey Dearmer is usually used instead. Dearmer is better known for his own poetry, drawn from his experience in World War I; he died in 1996 at the age of 103 making him one of the oldest veterans of "the Great War."

I am posting this because tomorrow's offering is an organ version of Arensky's variations on this theme, and I like to present the original versions of themes where possible to give them context.