Ex. 5-7: Amidst a Noisy Ball

No. 3 from Tchaikovsky's Six Romances (Op. 38), composed in May 1878. The lyrics are by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy (1817–1875), the Russian poet and playwright (not to be confused with Leo Tolstoy).

These songs were written during a turbulent period: Tchaikovsky was recovering from the breakdown of his brief marriage to Antonina Miliukova in 1877. He described the creation of this opus as "something between relaxation and work."

The four Tolstoy songs (Nos. 1–4) were composed at the Ukrainian estate of his benefactor Nadezhda von Meck, who had suggested he set Tolstoy's poetry to music. The remaining two songs were written earlier in Florence. The opus was dedicated to his brother Anatoly, in gratitude for helping him through his emotional crisis.