With his opera ''The Dead Souls'' (based on Gogol) and the ballets ''Anna Karenina'' (based on Tolstoy), ''The Seagull'' and ''Woman with a Little Dog'' (both based on Chekov), Shchedrin has brought classic works of Russian literature onto the musical theatre stage. This song cycle in thirteen parts, which is almost a miniature oratorio, is a work conceived on a smaller scale. The words describe various stages in the life and death of the poet, represented by the tenor voice with piano, while the words spoken by the narrator - personified as Anna Achmatova - and also accompanied by the piano can be understood as a sort of commentary in a musical dialogue. The composer has succeeded in bringing these disparate elements together and unifying them in music that is deeply expressive.