Ex. 7-7: Где ты, звёздочка?

Mussorgsky wrote this song in 1857, when he was 18. It is his first song. He was a young army officer in St. Petersburg, and he had not yet begun his lessons with Mily Balakirev, which started in December of that year. He later placed it first in Yunye gody (Youthful Years), a collection of his early songs.

The words are by the poet Nikolai Grekov, but by 1857 they were already a popular song: they had been printed on a cheap song sheet in 1851, and other composers, including Alexander Varlamov, had set them. The singer asks where the little star has gone, and where the girl he loves has gone. A black cloud has hidden the star, and the cold earth has taken the girl.

The song is dedicated to Isabella Grünberg, a singer and writer in St. Petersburg. Glinka had praised her singing, and Balakirev also dedicated songs to her. In 1858, under Balakirev's guidance, Mussorgsky rewrote the song and then orchestrated it. Singers, however, still sing the 1857 version.

This app uses a version edited for solfège practice: the melody is simplified, with the small ornaments left out, the fermatas are removed, and the tempo is a little faster than in the score.

From the album Anthology of Russian Song and Romance of the 18th–20th Centuries, Part 7 by Konstantin Pluzhnikov and Marina Mishuk (2019)
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