Late Russian Landscape Entry

[Pendergast, J. MAJ DFL]

The question submitted some time ago about the "most typical" or "iconic" Russian landscape has, like so many other interesting questions that are posed in this forum, fascinated me, but I was unable to produce a coherent response until I was able to chew on it for a while.  
 
The responses with examples from Lermontov, Turgenev, Tolstoy and others were compelling, but I'd like to submit the following thesis:  the landscape that seems to captivate the Russian soul is a quiet, wooded rural spot, ideally at evening, more often than not when the moon has begun to shine, that permits the writer (or reader, listener) to contemplate his place in the greater world.  Three examples have been running through my head, all of which are familiar to me more for having been set to music than perhaps as printed literature.  The first example is an extract of a poem by Zhukovskiy, which was edited slightly and set as a duet by Tchaikovsky in his opera Pikovaya Dama.  The second is part of a poem by Blok, used by Sviridov in a song-cycle called St Petersburg Songs on a commission by the fine baritone Dmitriy Khvorostovskiy.  The last is a portion of the immensely popular song, known in the West as Moscow Nights.  The recurrence of the variable components of this landscape across the centuries suggests to me that this is an evocative place for Russians.
 
Zhukovskiy, Ehlegiya
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Blok, Lullaby
 
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Moscow Nights
Music - V. Solovjov-Sedoj, lyrics - M. Matusovskij
 
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