Composer and Repertoire
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893 he was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He was honored in 1884 by Tsar Alexander III and awarded a lifetime pension.
Although musically precocious, Tchaikovsky was educated for a career as a civil servant. There was scant opportunity for a musical career in Russia at the time and no system of public music education. When an opportunity for such an education arose, he entered the nascent Saint Petersburg Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1865. The formal Western-oriented teaching that he received there set him apart from composers of the contemporary nationalist movement embodied by the Russian composers of The Five with whom his professional relationship was mixed.
Tchaikovsky's training set him on a path to reconcile what he had learned with the native musical practices to which he had been exposed from childhood. From that reconciliation, he forged a personal but unmistakably Russian style. The principles that governed melody, harmony and other fundamentals of Russian music ran completely counter to those that governed Western European music, which seemed to defeat the potential for using Russian music in large-scale Western composition or for forming a composite style, and it caused personal antipathies that dented Tchaikovsky's self-confidence. Russian culture exhibited a split personality, with its native and adopted elements having drifted apart increasingly since the time of Peter the Great. That resulted in uncertainty among the intelligentsia about the country's national identity, an ambiguity mirrored in Tchaikovsky's career.
Despite his many popular successes, Tchaikovsky's life was punctuated by personal crises and depression. Contributory factors included his early separation from his mother for boarding school followed by his mother's early death; the death of his close friend and colleague Nikolai Rubinstein; and the collapse of the one enduring relationship of his adult life, his 13-year association with the wealthy widow Nadezhda von Meck, who was his patron even though they never met. His homosexuality, which he kept private, has traditionally also been considered a major factor though some musicologists now downplay its importance. Tchaikovsky's sudden death at the age of 53 is generally ascribed to cholera, but there is an ongoing debate as to whether cholera was indeed the cause of his death.
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D Major Op.35
On October 26, 27 and 28, acclaimed guest conductor Fabien Gabel leads Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, featuring violinist Karen Gomyo. In this post, learn more about Tchaikovsky’s Romantic masterpiece and the surprising relationship that inspired it.
Tchaikovsky wrote his Violin Concerto in March 1878 while staying amid the breathtaking mountains of Clarens, Switzerland on Lake Geneva. The work was spurred by a visit from the violinist Iosif Kotek, who had been asking Tchaikovsky for a violin concerto for some time. After playing through Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole together, Tchaikovsky’s imagination was fired with ideas.
The work is filled with lyric melody suggestive of the Slavic and Russian folk song that so often found its way into Tchaikovsky’s ballets. Despite the difficulties of the solo part, the violin focuses on decorating the theme rather than on presenting purely technical passages. The second theme of the first movement has often been cited as an example of Tchaikovsky at his lyric best. Both themes are displayed predominantly in the extended written-out cadenza. An almost overly expressive Canzonetta in the distant and unexpected key of G minor serves as the second movement. In the lively finale, the influence of folk song is most strongly heard, both in the harmonies and in melodies built upon descending fourths. Taken as a whole, the work turned out to be one of Tchaikovsky’s most creative and least pretentious works, as well as a measure of how well he was able briefly to detach himself from his personal problems.
First movement
This gives way to the entrance of the soloist, who introduces the first movement’s main melody, one of Tchaikovsky’s most beautiful themes. The soloist’s music becomes faster and more virtuoso as it unfolds, until we reach a new theme marked “con molto espressione” (with great expression). Though related to the main melody, this theme is warmer, with a faster harmonic rhythm. As it unfolds and develops, the soloist’s music once again becomes increasingly virtuoso, but now with added emotional intensity. The soloist’s runs build to a grand orchestral statement in which the main theme returns in a powerful, heroic guise.
This soon disintegrates into fragmentary, unstable music, until the soloist reenters with a delicate variation on the main theme. This builds once again to a heroic, orchestral version of the theme. The music becomes more intense, until it breaks off, leaving the soloist alone. The soloist then plays a cadenza, an extended unaccompanied solo of great difficulty that features some of the violin’s highest notes.
After revisiting the main theme and the second theme, the cadenza ends with a trill, the traditional signal for the orchestra to reenter, and the flute begins to play a reprise of the main theme. After a reprise of the second theme, the orchestra and soloist race to the end of the movement in a thrilling coda.
Second movement
The slow movement that appears in the concerto today was not the one Tchaikovsky originally wrote; Kotek thought the original version was nice enough, but believed Tchaikovsky could do better. Tchaikovsky obliged, and wrote the unforgettable Canzonetta as a replacement (the original movement later became the Meditation from Souvenir d’un lieu cher—“Memory of a dear place”). “Canzonetta” is Italian for “little song,” and indicates a simple, vocal style of music. After a chorale-like introduction from the woodwinds, the soloist indeed plays a simple, song-like melody that is sweet yet melancholy. A brief orchestral interlude leads to a warmer, more tender middle section. After a reprise of the main theme and the introductory chorale, the movement fades away.
Third movement
Just as the second movement is about to end, the finale begins with a bang. Parallel to the first movement, an animated orchestral introduction leads to the entrance of the soloist, who then introduces the dancing main theme of the movement. In place of the noble melodies of the previous movements, Tchaikovsky turns now to the earthy sounds of Russian folk music, casting the soloist as a virtuoso Russian fiddler. Impressive passages for the soloist lead to a new theme that appears above a rustic drone bass. Languorous at first, the tune takes on a variety of moods in a series of variations, from fast and brilliant to slow and dreamy. The soloist then accelerates to a reprise of the main theme. After a reprise of the second theme, the main theme then reappears once more, leading to an exhilarating coda.