For tenor or mezzo-soprano and piano
October Tune
for Tenor or Mezzo-Soprano and Piano
A song for tenor or mezzo-soprano and piano, setting Октябрьская песня, a Russian poem by Joseph Brodsky.
Text
Joseph Brodsky. Text in Russian: “Октябрьская песня.”
Dedication
Dedicated to the memory of Alichka.
Premiere
18 March 2003. Chicago · Julia Bentley, mezzo-soprano · Andrea Swan, piano.
Form
Song. A brief vocal work of interior atmosphere, twilight, memory, and domestic stillness.
Structure
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October Tune
Song for tenor or mezzo-soprano and piano.
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Text
Text in Russian by Joseph Brodsky: Октябрьская песня. Poem written in 1971.
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Duration
Approximately 4 minutes.
Work Information
Abbreviations PDF
Poem
Октябрьская песня
Original Russian
Чучело перепелки стоит на каминной полке. Старые часы, правильно стрекоча, радуют ввечеру смятые перепонки. Дерево за окном – пасмурная свеча.
Море четвертый день глухо гудит у дамбы. Отложи свою книгу, возьми иглу; штопай мое белье, не зажигая лампы: от золота волос светло в углу.
English Translation
A stuffed quail on the mantelpiece minds its tail. The regular chirr of the clock’s healing in the twilight the rumpled helix. Through the window, birch candles fail.
For the fourth day the sea hits the dike with its hard horizon. Put aside the book, take your sewing kit; patch my clothes without turning the light on. golden hair keeps the corner lit.
English translation by Joseph Brodsky
The Work
October Tune is a song for tenor or mezzo-soprano and piano composed in 1992. The work sets Октябрьская песня, a Russian poem by Joseph Brodsky written in 1971: a compact interior scene in which objects, twilight, weather, and memory gather into a single room of sound.
The poem’s imagery moves between stillness and pressure: a quail on the mantelpiece, the chirr of a clock, a tree beyond the window, the distant sea against the dike, and a corner illuminated by golden hair.
- Form Song.
- Language Russian.
- Forces Tenor or mezzo-soprano and piano.
Context
The work belongs to Auerbach’s early songs for voice and piano. Its first documented performance took place in Chicago on 18 March 2003, with Julia Bentley as mezzo-soprano and Andrea Swan at the piano.
The work is dedicated to the memory of Alichka and is published by Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski.
Online Materials
Public links related to October Tune. No audio link is included on this page.
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ScoreHal Leonard · October Tune Hal Leonard
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ReferenceAuerbach Work Catalogue Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski
Publisher and Materials
Published by Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski. The work is listed in the Auerbach publisher catalogue, with a score listing available through Hal Leonard.
