TCHAIKOVSKY
Piano Music
Michael Ponti, Pianist
SVBX 5455
Recorded with DOLBY S/N STRETCHER
STEREO may also be played MONO
The roller-coaster ups-and-downs of Tchaikovsky’s
ratings over the years in the international musical stock-
markets have not been reflected in the evaluations of his
works for piano solo. For these pieces, after having played
a significant role in first establishing the young composer’s
fame outside as well as inside Russia, long have been gen¬
erally downgraded when they have not been largely ig¬
nored. Downgraded and ignored, that is, by most writers
on Tchaikovsky and his music. But for many years, as
long as there were pianos in most parlors, amateur players
continued to relish at least a substantial proportion of the
some 100 Tchaikovskian compositions for their instru¬
ment. Even today, when home pianism has become an
almost entirely forgotten art, the favorite tunes of the
worldwide mass public include at least four by Tchaikovsky
which were first conceived in keyboard terms although
they eventually came to be known most often in arrange¬
ments for other instruments.
Unlike many other major nineteenth-century composers,
Tchaikovsky never was particularly known as a virtuoso
pianist, himself. But even in his student years he was es¬
teemed as a skilled accompanist, and he was admired by
his fellow-students then and by his friends later as an in¬
exhaustibly imaginative keyboard improviser. His mastery
of the instrument’s resources and idiomatic idiosyncrasies
is clearly evident in the effectiveness of the solo part in
what is probably the most popular of all piano concertos.
And his personal interest in writing for the piano is con¬
firmed by his not only beginning his career by concentrat¬
ing on that instrument (eight of his first ten published
works are for piano solo) but by continuing to compose
for it into the very last year of his life.
Anyway, the adverse criticism of Tchaikovsky’s piano
solos is not based so much on any possible, sheerly tech¬
nical, digital awkwardnesses as on the supposedly damning
indictment that they are essentially “only salon” music.
But those who consider this to be a pejorative term have
forgotten that the salons of the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries were the very center of music-making
before intellectual and connoisseur (as well as socially
prominent) listeners. Before the relatively recent rise of
public recitals, most piano compositions not intended pri¬
marily for pedagogical uses were written for salon per¬
formance. The undeniable fact that this repertory includes
more small- than large-scaled works, more lyrics and epics,
does not necessarily imply their certain aesthetic damna¬
tion. If it did, the piano compositions of Chopin, Schu¬
mann, Liszt, et al., never could have won such universal
critical as well as popular acclaim, and the simple A-B-A
form never could have become so widely favored for the
shorter works of most composers in recent centuries.
If Tchaikovsky wrote—for piano solo—even less often
than his major contemporaries in the larger forms . . . and
if his most ambitious example, the Op. 37 Sonata in G,
requires an exceptionally virtuoso interpreter to give it
dramatic conviction ... he did achieve at least two striking
more-than-miniature-size successes: the Op. 59 Dumka
fantasia and the Op. 19, No. 6, Theme and Variations.
Moreover, his shorter pieces include not only the expres¬
sively lyrical miniatures considered nowadays to be char¬
acteristic salon morceaux but just about as many sprightly
dances, glitteringly bravura showpieces, and other infec¬
tiously zestful jeux d’esprit. What else reasonably could be
expected from the composer of the incomparable Swan
Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and Nutcracker ballets? — which
themselves include innumerable similar little tonal jewels,
some of which undoubtedly were first conceived for the
piano, just as, conversely, some of the published keyboard
solos were originally sketched as part of the great ballet
scores.
But this is of course no proper place for any attempted
reevaluation of the Tchaikovsky piano music. What is most
warranted for their first large-scale representation in stereo
sound—indeed their most comprehensive recorded repre¬
sentation to-date—is an emphatic warning that the pieces
should not be prejudged by anything one has read about
them but should be allowed to speak directly for them¬
selves. Listen to them, preferably even before reading the
following descriptive notes (arranged in the order in which
they are performed in the Vox recordings). These notes
are not as completely objective as they perhaps should be.
since even the choice of descriptive adjectives allows the
writer’s subjective reactions to appear by implication if not
explicitly, but I have tried to give first importance to the
pertinent factual data—dates, score markings, and the like.
And for further useful if by no means essential background
information I have appended a Chronology to enable the
listener-reader to “place” Tchaikovsky’s piano-solo publi¬
cations (printed in boldface type) in relation to those in
other media and in relation to the principal events in the
composer’s all-too-short life.
Side One: Opp. 1, 2, 4, and 5
Band 1, a: Op. 1, No. 1, Scherzo a la russe, in B flat,
Allegro moderato, 2/4 time. Composed early in 1867, this
Scherzo was first performed in public by Nicholas Rubin¬
stein, to whom it is dedicated. Originally called a Capriccio,
it warrants its revised title by its use of a “Little-Russian”
(that is, Ukrainian) tune which Tchaikovsky had first heard
sung by women working in the garden of his married sister’s
estate in Kamenka, in the Kiev province. This tune evi¬
dently was a special favorite of his, for he had earlier ar¬
ranged it for chorus and also used it in a student-work, the
never-published String Quartet in B flat. Like so many of
Tchaikovsky’s smaller works, the Russian Scherzo one is in
A-B-A form, with an easily rocking, quiet mid-section in
3/4 (beginning una corda) contrasting with the swagger¬
ing, dotted-rhythm, staccato main subject. The latter’s re¬
prise is worked up with considerable bravura, interrupted
by six Quasi adagio bars before the last three Presto pages.
Band 1, b: Op. 1, No. 2, Impromptu, in E flat minor,
Allegro furioso, 3/4, also composed in 1867. The hard-
driving triplets of the first section give way to a plaintively
lyrical Andante molto espressivo melody with an ostinato-
rhythm accompaniment. Recitativo passages and little runs
lead back to the reprise of the furioso, but the work ends
unexpectedly quietly with eight bars, Quasi adagio. This
Impromptu, incidentally, was not originally intended for
publication and appeared in print only because it was in¬
cluded in the same MS notebook (which Rubinstein sent
to the publisher, Jiirgenson) with the Scherzo a la russe.
Tchaikovsky was annoyed at first, but apparently made no
attempt, then or later, to withdraw the piece.
Band 2, a: Op. 2, No. 1, Ruines d’un chateau, in E
minor, Adagio mysterioso, 2/4, is the first of a set of three
pieces collectively entitled Souvenir de Hapsal since they
were composed (or, in the case of No. 2, revised) during
the 1867 summer vacation Tchaikovsky, and his brother
Anatol, spent with their sister, Mme. Alexandra Davidova,
in the Baltic seaside town of Hapsal, in Esthonia, about
midway between the Gulf of Riga and Gulf of Finland.
(Op. 2 is dedicated to Alexandra’s sister-in-law, Vera
Davidova.) The appropriately nostalgic atmosphere of the
Castle Ruins' opening brightens for a gracefully vivacious
Allegro molto in 6/16 time before darkening again for the
reprise of the first section, now with heightened " Ruck-
blick" pathos. (Parenthetically, it might be noted that this
piece was written nearly seven years before The Old Castle
in Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.)
Band 2, b: No. 2 of Op. 2 is the revision of an 1865
student work, a gracefully light-footed Scherzo, in F minor,
Allegro vivo, 3/8, with an easier, more songful, and soon
more floridly decorative mid-section.
Band 2, c, brings us the first of Tchaikovsky’s world-
popular “hits”: the Song Without Words, in F, Op. 2,
No. 3, which is heard so often in orchestral and other ar¬
rangements that most mass-public listeners nowadays have
no idea that this unforgettable, gracefully lilting melody
was originally conceived for piano solo. It opens Allegretto
grazioso e cantabile, 3/4; there is little real change in mood
in the slightly more declamatory mid-section; and the piece
ends with reminiscences of the haunting main theme rather
than with a formal reprise.
Band 3: Op. 4 is a fairly long Valse caprice, in D, A
tempo rubato non troppo mosso, 3/4, which was composed
in October 1868 and dedicated to the pianist Anton K.
Door. Its waywardly capricious, indeed quite feminine,
main subject—interrupted for a chippier Tranquillo in F
minor—is worked up stormily on its reappearance, which
is climaxed by a bravura Presto conclusion.
Band 4: Op. 5 is a Romanze, in F minor. Andante
cantabile, common time, composed near the end of 1868
when Tchaikovsky first met and was momentarily infatu¬
ated with the Belgian prima donna Desiree Artot, to whom
this piece is dedicated. It was first performed in public by
Nicholas Rubinstein at a December 1868 Moscow Con¬
servatory concert, and almost from the beginning it became
an often-played and variously arranged public favorite.
It opens with a haunting nocturne-like melody which is
succeeded by a bouncing, strongly accented Allegro en-
ergico featuring an ostinato figure in the bass. Recitatives
lead to the first-section reprise, but there is a brief re¬
appearance of the Allegro before the quiet ending with
four Piu lento bars.
Side Two: Opp. 8, 9, 10, and 59
Band 1: Skipping Op. 7 momentarily for disc-side layout
convenience, Op. 8 is a Capriccio in G flat, composed in
1870 and dedicated to the great German pianist-pedagogue
Karl Klindworth. Cast in what A. E. S. Dickinson describes
as an “arch” pattern (A-B-C-B-A), it begins Allegro giusto
in 3/4 (but with an occasional bar in common time) with
a jauntily bouncing theme characterized by a zestfully
“hurry-up” rhythm that also dominates the following epi¬
sode in G minor. The “C” mid-section is an Andante, molto
espressivo, in B flat, 3/4, with rolled chords. The “B”
episode returns, but now in F sharp minor; and the piece
concludes with a heavier reprise of the “hurry-up” first
section.
Band 2, a, b, and c, includes the three pieces comprising
Op. 9, which was also composed in 1870. No. 1 is a
Reverie, in D, Andante capriccioso, in 3/4 time and gentle
but piquantly quirky, improvisatory style. There is a more
florid second section with a quasi-cadenza, and after the
reprise of the first theme this Allegro returns briefly with
a real cadenza before the final tender reminiscences of the
first theme in a mancando (dying-away) ending. No.. 2 is
an infectiously cheerful, brightly bouncing Polka de Salon,
in B flat, Allegro moderato; 2/4, which has a brief mid¬
section featuring running passages and a first-section re¬
prise winding up showily with a bravura rush of double
octaves. No. 3 is a Mazurka de Salon, in D minor, in 3/4
time with no tempo specification. Its quaintly hesitant,
almost stumbling, but irresistibly catchy main theme (the
subsidiary mid-section is brisker and more folkish in char¬
acter) has given the piece a distinctive appeal that has led
to many arrangements, including one, especially popular
in England, for military band. In many of these transcrip¬
tions the title is changed—for reasons unknown—to Valse
creole. Nos. 1 and 3 of Op. 9 were first performed in public
by Nicholas Rubinstein in the initial all-Tchaikovsky con¬
cert, 28 March 1871, which for reasons of economy was
confined to piano solos, songs, and chamber music—in¬
cluding the eventually world-famous .None but the lonely
heart, Op. 6, No. 6, and the premiere of the Op. 11 String
Quartet in D with its Andante cantabile slow movement.
Band 3, a and b: the two pieces of Op. 10 were com¬
posed in 1871 and dedicated to “My friend, Vladimir
Shilovsky,” a favorite pupil and travelling companion of
the composer. No. 1 is a calmly rhapsodic Nocturne, in F,
Andante cantabile, 2/4, somewhat akin in form as well as
mood to the Op. 5' Romanze since its mid-section (first
introduced by a cadenza and featuring chattering chords)
reappears after the first-section reprise, before the quiet
ending. It has long been over-shadowed, however, by No.
2, a Humoresque, in G, which is another of the world-
famous Tchaikovskian “hits,” transcribed by Stokowski
among many others. It begins and ends at once jaunty and
songful, Allegretto scherzando, in 2/4 time, while the
gentler but soon more florid mid-section is based on a
popular song (a French folktune, according to Evans)
which Tchaikovsky first heard in Nice.
Band 4 breaks entirely with our approximately chrono¬
logical sequence to jump forward all the way to 1886 for
what many Tchaikovskians consider to be the composer’s
major work for piano solo, even though it is dwarfed in
sheer length by the Sonata in G. This is the Op. 59 Dumka,
“Rustic Russian Scene,” in C minor. The title itself war¬
rants some explanation for non-Russian readers. Accord¬
ing to the Harvard Dictionary of Music, dumka (plural,
dumky) is the name of a type of Slavic, originally Russian,
folksong of “narrative character and with sudden changes
from melancholy to exuberance.” It is probably best known
to music-lovers through its frequent use by Dvorak, both
for piano pieces and his celebrated Dumky Trio, Op. 90.
Tchaikovsky’s Dumka, which runs to ten printed score
pages, is a multi-episodic fantasia with virtuoso technical
demands on the performer, and indeed is dedicated to the
noted French piano virtuoso and Conservatoire-director
Antoine-Frangois Marmontel. It begins Andantino canta¬
bile, in common time, with a ballade-like, quintessentially
“Russian” (almost “Volga-Boatmen”-like) melody which
well may be—or have been inspired by—an actual folk¬
song. After some ornamentation and development of this
theme there are successively a quirky Con anima section,
which is worked up excitingly; a calm Poco meno mosso;
a bravura cadenza, followed by a hard-driving Moderato
con fuoco, sempre staccato; then a broader Andante, meno
mosso, and Adagio, diminuendo; finally, after a pause, an
eloquent last-page return to the first theme, Tempo /,
cantabile, sempre pp up to the concluding three, abruptly
ff chords.
Side Three: Opp. 7 and 19
Band 1 goes back for the passed-up Op. 7 of 1870, a
Valse-Scherzo, in A, 3/4 time, no tempo marking. Its
graceful, gleamingly rippling main subject is worked-up
more passionately before giving way to a darker, easier-
swaying mid-section with repetitive melodic phrases. The
reprise of the first section segues stormily into brief re¬
appearances of first mid-section and then main-section
thematic fragments before a lingering, quiet ending.
The rest of this third disc-side is devoted to the Six
Pieces, Op. 19, composed in 1873 and individually dedi¬
cated to various friends and pupils of the composer—most
notably, in the case of the largest of the series, No. 6, to
Hermann Laroche, Tchaikovsky’s fellow-student at the St.
Petersburg Conservatory and later an outstanding music-
critic.
Band 2: Op. 19, No. 1, is a nostalgic, smoothly ara-
besqued Abend-Traumerei or Reverie du Soir, in G minor,
Andante espressivo, 3/4, with a more songful L’istesso
tempo mid-section.
Band 3: Op. 19, No. 2, is a vivaciously running Scherzo
humoristique, in D, Allegro vivacissimo, 3/8, with a more
serious Meno mosso mid-section featuring reiterated tones
and short phrases, which reappears briefly after the first-
section reprise and just before the scampering rush to a
triumphal ending.
Band 4: Op. 19, No. 3, a Feuillet d'Album (Album-
Leaf), in D, Allegretto semplice, 2/4, is one of the shortest
pieces—only two printed pages—in this recorded collec¬
tion. Its combination of performance simplicity and melodic
lyricism (with no marked mood-change in the brief mid¬
section) made it a great favorite with amateurs in the days
when “everyone” took piano lessons and could play at
least easy pieces.
Band 5: Op. 19, No. 4, is a hauntingly atmospheric
Nocturne, in C sharp minor, Andante sentimentale, in
common time, with a wistful, ballade-like, soliloquizing
first subject and lyrical thematic interweavings. There is
more motion in the flowing Piu mosso mid-section in A,
3/4; then a quasi-cadenza leads to a reprise, with more
florid embroideries, of the first subject; and the piece ends
gravely, ppp.
Band 6; Op. 19, No. 5, is a Capriccioso, in B flat, Alle¬
gretto semplice, 2/4, which has special interest as one of
the Tchaikovsky piano pieces known to have been first
conceived for a different medium. Its calmly lilting, ballade¬
like opening theme was first jotted down in the composer’s
diary (11 June 1873) as the opening subject of a projected
Symphony in B flat. In its present, more suitable scoring
for piano solo there is a bridge of six Quasi andante bars
leading to a briskly jaunty, fleetly running Allegro vivacis¬
simo mid-section, in D minor, and in marked contrast to
the nostalgic poignancy with which the main subject is
reprised.
Band 7: Op. 19, No. 6, unexpectedly breaks the series
of independent, relatively small genre pieces with Tchai¬
kovsky’s major example of the Theme-and-Variations form
in which he excelled to a degree probably surpassed only—
in the romantic era at least—by Brahms. The present 12
Variations and Coda on a Theme in F is far less well known
than the variations in the Third Orchestral Suite, Op. 55;
the cello-and-orchestral Variations on a Rococo Theme,
Op. 33; or the piano-trio variations in the Op. 50 Trio;
but it surely belongs in the same august company. Late
editions of the score are headed “As played by H. von
Biilow in his concerts”—in acknowledgment of the great
German pianist-conductor’s interest in and appreciation of
both this particular work (which Von Biilow first played
in public in March 1874) and Tchaikovsky’s music in
general, which he praised highly in print, the first musical
celebrity outside Russia to do so.
The engagingly simple, expressive 16-bar Theme is
marked Andante non tanto, 3/4. Variation 1, L’istesso
tempo, dolce cantando, adds only a bit more motion. Var.
2, Pistesso tempo, cantando, is considerably more flowing,
with the theme in the left hand under triplet figurations in
the right. Var. 3, Allegretto, 3/8, is quirkily brilliant.
Var. 4, Allegro vivace leggiero, 9/16, with triplet staccato
chords, is even more dashing and bravura. Var. 5, Andante
amoroso, in D flat, 3/4, changes the mood as well as, for
the first time, the key; and in the jaunty, snappily staccato
Var. 6, Allegro risoluto, in F, 9/8, both are changed again.
Var. 7, Moderato assai, in A minor, 6/4, is a calmer, quasi-
religioso chordal processional only 12 bars in length. Var.
8, Allegro, in D minor, 3/4, is exultantly high-stepping
and brilliant. Var. 9, Alla Mazurka, in B flat, 3/8, is
marked to be played “grazioso ed un poco rubato,” and
includes a miniature cadenza before the reprise of the
mazurka-metamorphosis of the original theme. Var. 10,
Andante non troppo, un poco rubato, in F minor, common
time, brings back the original theme in the tenor register
under quietly florid arabesque-passagework. Var. 11, Al¬
legro britliante, in F, 2/4, is marked "Alla Schumann” and
does indeed sound very much like Tchaikovsky’s idol in
one of his most exuberant moods. Var. 12, L’istesso tempo,
in F, 3/4, features the ostinato repetition of a tonic pedal-
point in the bass continuously throughout the 28-bar move¬
ment. And, finally, the Coda is a two-page virtuoso Presto,
in F, 3/4, which works fleetly up to a bring-the-house-
down conclusion, piu presto, brilliante e crescendo.
Side Four: Sonata in G, Op. 37
This is 'the Tchaikovsky Piano Sonata since the com¬
poser never intended his student Sonata in C sharp minor
of 1865 for publication, and it was published, as Op. 80,
only after his death. Op. 37 is also Tchaikovsky’s largest
(no less than 45 printed pages, nearly half-an-hour in play¬
ing time) and most ambitious work for piano solo. It was
written during March and April, 1878, during a stay in
Clarens. Switzerland, while the composer was impatiently
awaiting word on the public and critical reception of his
Fourth Symphony in its world premiere under Nicholas
Rubinstein’s baton in Moscow, 22 February. Contrary to
his usual practice of finishing one composition before start¬
ing another, Tchaikovsky in this case alternated between
work on the Sonata, which he found extremely difficult
(“I ponder over each measure,” he confessed in a letter to
Mme. Von Meek), and the now-famous Violin Concerto
in D. The Sonata is dedicated to Karl Klindworth, but it
was Nicholas Rubinstein who rewarded the composer for
his labors by his “marvellous” interpretation of the work.
Writing again to Mme. Von Meek, Tchaikovsky exclaimed,
“I was simply amazed by the artistry and astonishing force
with which he plays this rather dry and complex piece.”
It is interesting to note that after later years when the
Sonata was generally neglected, present-day listeners were
similarly amazed by the “artistry and astonishing force”
of a new Russian virtuoso, Sviatoslav Richter’s, concert
and (monophonic) recorded performances. Apparently the
assumed “failure” of this work has been less any inherent
faults than a lack of sufficient eloquence and virtuosity on
the part of its interpreters!
Band 1: The first movement, Moderato e risoluto, in G,
3/4, follows more or less closely the conventional “sonata
form.” The first subject, boldly proclaimed in big, power¬
fully hammering chords, gives way briefly to a more floridly
decorative but no-less insistent subsidiary episode before
the main subject returns. The second theme, Tranquillo,
is conventionally contrastingly lyrical, and unusual only in
some of the modulations it undergoes in its working-up.
There are long development and recapitulation sections,
and finally a coda, in all of which the heroic main theme
is dominant, remaining insistently forceful to the move¬
ment’s end in obsessive sequences.
Band 2: The Andante non troppo, quasi moderato, in
E minor, 9/8, is a slow movement of almost equal length.
The plaintively meditative main theme alternates with two
other themes in a pattern analyzed by A. E. S. Dickinson
as aba’/ejab’a, where b is a brighter, somewhat Schu-
mannesque dotted-rhythm motive, and c is a songful but
catchily rhythmed Moderato con animazione, in 3/4 time,
which is worked-up quite passionately and floridly—and
later on returns briefly in a morendo coda.
Band 3: After two such large-scaled long movements,
the Scherzo (Allegro giocoso, in G, 9/16) seems more
than normally slight and brief. Its athletic first subject is
infectiously cheerful, if a bit ungainly, with some ex¬
uberant passage-work; the easier but gracefully nimble
mid-section includes some deftly responsive left-hand run¬
ning and right-hand melodic phrases; and after the brisk
return to the first subject the movement eases off to a
sudden-stop ending.
Band 4: The finale, an Allegro vivace, in G, 2/4, is
formally a rondo of sorts and stylistically a bravura show¬
piece. The main subject, featuring both big, declamatory,
syncopated chords and swiftly dashing runs, also includes,
as subsidiary material, a lighter, repetitive, staccato-chord
motive. This is followed by a quieter, waywardly meander¬
ing lyrical episode; and then a reprise of the main subject,
this time minus its subsidiary. The longer second episode,
itself in a-b-a pattern, is mildly insistent and more expan¬
sive; and after some contrasting, more floridly running
passages, it broadens out with passionate fervor. Heavy
octaves lead back to the bravura main subject, this time
complete with its lighter subsidiary . . . there is a brief,
hesitant reappearance of the first-episode theme . . . the
main subject returns again briefly before the quiet Coda
with reminiscences of the second-episode theme and a
slowing-down pedal-point before the final chords.
Side Five: Op. 40, Nos. 1 through 9
Op. 40 is a set of 12 mostly quite short Etudes, or
“Pieces of Moderate Difficulty,” dedicated to the com¬
poser’s brother, Modest, and composed over the years
1876-78. These were the first years of Tchaikovsky’s cor¬
respondence with, and commissions from, Mme. Von Meek
... the fertile years of such achievements as the Swan Lake
Ballet, Francesca da Rimini, Fourth Symphony, and the
Violin Concerto; to say nothing of the Op. 37 Sonata, the
Op. 37A Seasons (or Months ) series, and the set of 24
miniatures in the Op. 39 Children’s Album, all for piano
solo.
No. 1: Op. 40 leads off with a brilliant Etude, in G,
Allegro giusto, 2/4, which dashes tumultuously from be¬
ginning to end without any distinctively contrasting mid¬
section.
No. 2 is another of Tchaikovsky’s world-famous “hit”
tunes, the Chanson triste, in G minor. Allegro non troppo,
common time. Like the Song Without Words, Op. 2, No. 3,
Romanze, Op. 4, and Humoresque, Op. 10, No. 2, this
“Sad Song” long has been more often heard in all kinds
of arrangements than in its original scoring. There is even
a vocal arrangement, by one Alfy, with a German text that
begins “Niemand kennl des Herzens well’ ” in an attempt
to emulate the success of Tchaikovsky’s best-known song,
“None but the lonely heart.” The haunting main theme,
with its repetitive insistence on its first note, “D”, is marked
(superfluously, it seems now) "la melodia con molto es-
pressione." There is only mild contrast in the gentler,
hymn-like mid-section, and in its reprise the main theme
sounds more plaintively “Russian” than ever.
No. 3: Longest of the Op. 40 pieces is the Funeral
March, tempo di marcia junebre. in C minor, common
time. Despite the composer’s marking of ‘‘doloroso con
molto sentimento,” the quietly marching main theme is
more tenderly plaintive than solemnly tragic. This is an¬
other ’’Dolly’s Funeral," perhaps—a feeling bolstered by
the quasi-fanfares and more vigorously stepping-out major¬
mode mid-section. After the return to the first theme, there
are reminiscences of the fanfarish chords before the darker,
graver, quiet ending.
No. 4, the first of two Mazurkas, this one in C, is a toe¬
tickling, skipping dance with distinctively Polish grace and
fragrance, and a contrastingly broader, less skittish, but
hesitantly swinging Trio. No. 5, in D, has a gaily jaunty,
but less saucy, main subject, and a graver, more sonorously
songful chordal Trio.
No. 6 is the Song Without Words in A—the Cinderella,
but by no means entirely neglected (it has been orches¬
trated by Stokowski), step-sister of the more famous Chant
sans paroles in F, Op. 2, No. 3. Here the main theme,
Allegro moderato is in 2/4 rather than 3/4 time, and the
folkish melody with its “Russian” turns flows over weak-
beat accompaniment chords in the left hand. The mid¬
section is worked-up a bit more intensely but soon gives
way to a return of the more distinctive main theme.
No. 7, A u village, in C, is a miniature Dumka. It begins
Andante sostenuto, 2/4, with quiet, distinctively “Russian”
soliloquies which soon brighten up a bit with some deft
part-interweavings, before returning to the opening theme,
now heard over rolled chords. The second section, Allegro
molto vivace, also in 2/4, is snappily sprightly, with scam¬
pering florid passages which dash with great eclat to a
bravura end.
No. 8, the first of two Waltzes, this one in A flat, is in¬
imitably Tchaikovskian in the whirling flow and intricately
woven texture of its main subject; and scarcely less so in
its more repetitively-phrased Trio. No. ?, the Waltz in
F sharp minor, is, however, one of Tchaikovsky’s most
frankly Schumannesque compositions in the rhapsodic
quirkiness of its brisk main theme with LH-chord/RH-run
antiphonies. The more hesitant Trio, with repetitive ac¬
companiment chords, is less characteristic of either com¬
poser.
Side Six: Op. 40, Nos. 10-12, and Op. 21
Band 1, a, b, and c, includes the last three Etudes in
Op. 40. No. 10, the Danse russe, in A minor, 3/4, is one
of the smaller Tchaikovskian piano pieces definitely known
to have been first sketched—in 1876—for ballet use, in
this case for Swan Lake for which the composer supplied
far more material than possibly could be used in the original
1877 production, or even in Petipa’s more extensive re¬
vival of 1895. This dance is another miniature Dumka,
with a delicately bouncing Andantino first section, followed
by a dashing, more assertive, yet no-less “Russian -in-feel¬
ing Allegro molto vivace.
No. 11 is a Scherzo in D minor/major, 3/8, with a
vehemently staccato Allegro vivacissimo main subject that
for some ears anticipates Prokofiev. The Trio is contrast¬
ingly easier with gracefully melodic LH/RH antiphonies,
and the reprise of the “hurry-up” main subject eases off
again into a quirky coda that scampers to a quiet ending.
No. 12 is a romantic Reverie interrompue (Interrupted
Dream), in A flat, 3/4, which begins Andante un poco
rubato e molto espressione with atmosphere-evocative
arpeggios and calm recitatives. But this introductory sec¬
tion soon gives way to the “interruption,” Moderato (la
melodia semplice ma marcato). The catchy tune with its
piquantly strummed accompaniment is one of Tchaikov¬
sky’s popular-song borrowings specifically noted in the
score as a “popular Venetian melody written down in
1877.” Its source was a street-singer who, accompanied
by his little daughter, used to appear in the evening out¬
side the composer’s hotel in Venice, and who particularly
pleased Tchaikovsky with his “pretty voice” and “innate
rhythmic sense.” This same tune also is used in No. 23,
The Organ Grinder, of the Op. 39 Children’s Album.
Band 2, a, b, c, d, e, and /, includes the Six Pieces on
One Theme, Op. 21, written near the end of 1873 almost
simultaneously with Op. 19, the Air and Variations of
TCHAIKOVSKY CHRONOLGY
which (see Side 3, Band 7 above) well may have suggested
the notion of a different experiment in variation form—a
set of pieces all based on the same theme (here essentially
a motive characterized by a rising and falling fourth pre¬
ceded by a turn). The primary changes are in the settings
and moods rather than in the theme itself, although it is
of course altered to some extent, especially in rhythm, to
suit its various metamorphoses. Dedicated to Anton Rubin¬
stein, that maestro dallied ten years before he deigned to
play Op. 21- in public—then with great success in a St.
Petersburg concert of 16 April 1883. That success had
ironic overtones, however, both for Jiirgenson, Tchaikov¬
sky’s principal publisher, because another (Bessel) had
published this now best-selling work, and the composer
himself, who wryly noted how much more helpful a Rubin¬
stein performance would have been a decade earlier. De¬
spite its early popularity, however, Op. 21 has been far
more generally neglected than its interest, both musical
and pianistic, warrants. To the best of the present anno¬
tator’s knowledge, Michael Ponti’s present recording for
Vox is a discographic First.
No. 7 is a Praeludium, in G sharp minor, Allegro mod¬
erate, in common time but with occasional 3/2 bars. The
distinctively “Russian”-sounding theme, announced imme¬
diately, is dominant throughout, sometimes in LH/RH
antiphonies.
No. 2 is more expectedly dominated by the theme
throughout, since that now becomes the short, three-bar,
subject of a Fugue a 4, in G sharp minor. Andante, in
common time. The parts are smoothly and intricately inter¬
woven with the theme heard climactically in octaves in the
bass just before the quiet last five bars with a major-mode
ending.
No. 3, in contrast, is a particularly free and wayward
Impromptu, in C sharp minor, in common time but with
occasional 2/4 and 3/4 bars. The main section is a start-
and-stop Allegro molto with RH triplets against LH-
accompaniment duplets. A calm Molto meno mosso mid¬
section, with marked accents on weak beats, leads back to
a reprise of the first section, now with an interpolated
cadenza and a ritenuto, diminuendo ending.
No. 4 is a longer, eight-printed-pages Funeral March,
in A flat minor, in which the first section (.Tempo di Mar¬
cia, in common time) is dominated obsessively by the over¬
all work’s basic motive with its distinctive turn. The mid¬
section is more scintillating and showy (“flashy rhetoric”
sneers A. E. F. Dickinson), working-up with insistent bra¬
vura octave passages before the reprise of the first section,
which darkens steadily, with more frequent appearances
of the turn motive in the LH, before the ppp ending.
No. 5, also in A flat minor, is a contrastingly vivacious
Mazurka, Allegro moderate, 3/8, with a quirkier, skipping-
rhythmed Trio which reappears, reminiscently, at the end
of the first-section reprise.
No. 6, finally, is a cheerful Scherzo, in A flat major,
Allegro vivace, 6/8. The piquantly rhythmed first section
(itself in a-b-a form) is worked-up exuberantly to a fff
climax that gives way to a gently flowing Meno mosso,
cantabile, mid-section which accelerates to a cadenza be¬
fore the reprise of the first section and a concluding bravura
rush. This is the longest—nine printed pages—and most
virtuoso of the six pieces, making a highly effective con¬
clusion to these Op. 21 Adventures of a Theme—as well as
to the present comprehensive recorded collection of Tchai¬
kovsky’s piano music.
— Notes by R. D. DARRELL
Significant Events
Tchaikovsky born, 7 May, in Votkinsk. 1840
School of Jurisprudence, St. Petersburg. 1850
Mother’s death, 25 June. 1854
Clerkship in Ministry of Justice. 1859
Parttime studies, St. Petersburg Conservatory. 1862
Resigns clerkship; fulltime music studies. 1863
First (student works) performances. 1865
Graduation at St. Petersburg; professorship at 1866
Moscow Conservatory; nervous breakdown.
Meets Berlioz and hears him conduct. 1867
Conducts own Voivode Dances in public. 1868
Brief engagement to Desiree Artot. 1869
European travels; Franco-Prussian War. 1870
First all-Tchaikovsky concert, 28 March. 1871
European travels with Vladimir Shilovsky. 1872
Successful premiere of the 2nd Symphony. 1873
Piano works praised by Von Biilow in press. 1874
Wins opera-contest with Vakulci the Smith. 1875
Attends 1st Bayreuth Festival; begins correspondence 1876
with Mme. von Meek.
Marriage, 18 July; suicide attempt. 1877
Resigns conservatory post. 1878
Premiere of Eugen Onegin, 29 March. 1879
Father's death, 21 January, at 85. 1880
Death of Nicholas Rubinstein, 23 March. 1881
Moscow Exposition all-Tchaikovsky concert. 1882
1883
Reception and decoration by the Tsar. 1884
Rents country house in Klin district. 1885
Conducting studies and rehearsals. 1886
Conducts own opera The Little Slippers; 1887
also concerts of own orchestral works.
First international tour as a conductor. 1888
Second international tour as a conductor. 1889
Rupture with Mme. Von Meek; 25th anniversary 1890
celebration as a professional musician.
American trip; Carnegie Hall opening. 1891
Opera and concert conducting activity. 1892
Awarded Cambridge University degree 13 June; 1893
death from cholera 6 November.
Representative Works (including, in boldface, all for piano solo)
First amateurish composition attempts.
Student compositions.
Op. 2, No. 2; Piano Sonata Op. 80.
First draft of 1st Symphony.
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