THE LIBRARY | SONGS

The opening piano solo imitates the pipe that forms the central image of the song, even unfolding in the Phrygian mode, which Pushkin alludes to in the poem. The voice enters with an unaccompanied, recitative like line, giving the song a storytelling quality. Once the main vocal melody begins, Rachmaninoff transforms the pipe like solo into an accompanimental figure. One of the few moments when the music briefly leaves its modal world for the major comes on the phrase “a faint smile,” a subtle flash of warmth. In the second section, Rachmaninoff introduces a lilting accompaniment that sits on a single harmony, evoking the calm of the “mute shade of oaks.” The music builds steadily toward its climax, placing the high note exactly on the phrase “divine breath.” The song then returns to the opening pipe melody, now enriched with gentle harmonic inflections beneath it.