The second of four songs in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Vesnoy (In Spring), “It wasn’t the wind, blowing from up high,” is a setting of a romantic poem by Aleksei Tolstoy. The titular wind is conveyed by a fast, yet pianissimo (very quiet) and legato (smooth) accompaniment in the first stanza. The melody is sweet and lyrical, as the narrator describes the touch of his beloved. In the second stanza, however, the forceful gusts he contends with are represented by a heavier, chordal accompaniment befitting Tolstoy’s tumultuous verse. D minor further shrouds the middle section in darkness before the dulcet F major of the opening returns in the third stanza. The threatening wind gives way to a May breeze with winter’s snowy chaos a mere memory. 

Program Notes by Jack Slavin.
Slavin is a pianist, music educator, and arts professional based in New York City.