Tchaikovsky - Romeo And Juliet Overture - Fantasy

William Shakespeare's plays have inspired many composers, especially in the Romantic era. Over 20 operas

have been written based on the play, some ballets (most notably by Prokofiev), a dramatic symphony by Berlioz and the modern adaptation West Side Story with music by Leonard Bernstein.  Perhaps the most

well-known work based on a Shakespeare play is the Romeo And Juliet Overture-Fantasy by Tchaikovsky.

The piece was written by Tchaikovsky when he was 28 years old in 1869 while he was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory. It was written at the suggestion of Mily Balakirev, the leader of the group of Russian nationalistic composers called The Five. Tchaikovsky had already written his first symphony and a symphonic poem and complained that he was already burned out, but Balakirev pestered him until he began work on it. Balakirev gave him some advice on technical matters of form and critiqued the first version of the work. 

Balakirev

The second version of the work was not an immediate success. It was even hissed the first time it was played in Vienna. But The Five composers embraced the work, even though Tchaikovsky was not considered in their group. About ten years after the premiere of the second version Tchaikovsky revised it again, changed the ending and added Overture - Fantasy to the title. It is this third version that is played in concerts. 

Shakespeare based Romeo And Juliet on a story from Italy written in the middle of the 16th century, but the theme of tragic romance goes back way before the 16th century. Shakespeare fleshed out the story by adding characters and expanding the plot. A short synopsis:

The story is set in Verona, and revolves around the conflicts between two families that are sworn enemies, the Montagues and Capulets.  Romeo is the son of the patriarch of the Montagues, and he attends a ball given by the Capulets to try and meet a woman that he is attracted to, but he meets Juliet instead at the ball and falls in love with her. They meet after the ball (the famous balcony scene) and agree to marry despite their families' mutual hatred. With the help of Friar Laurence they are married the next day. Trouble brews and lives are taken after a fight between supporters of the families. Romeo is banished from Verona, and as Romeo and Juliet's marriage is a secret, Juliet is betrothed to another. Romeo steals away and spends the night with Juliet.  Juliet's family tries to force her to marry another, and Juliet goes to Friar Laurence for help. He gives her a potion that will make it appear as if she is dead and promises to send word to Romeo about the plan. Romeo returns to Juliet's chamber but he wasn't informed of the potion and thinks her dead. He gets poison and goes to the crypt where Juliet lays. The other to whom Juliet was betrothed is in the crypt mourning her death, Romeo kills him and drinks the poison. After Romeo dies Juliet awakens from her potion-induced sleep, sees that Romeo has killed himself, so she kills herself with Romeo's dagger. Members from the two families find all three of them dead in the crypt, and realizing the tragedy their family feud has caused, reconcile with one another. 

The play itself has many side plots and Shakespeare combines some comic scenes with the dramatic and

Shakespeare

tragic to keep a steady build-up to the climax of the play. Tchaikovsky uses dramatic and tragic elements of the play to construct his Romeo And Juliet Overture-Fantasy.

The work is a tone poem written in sonata form. The opening of the work is an introduction based on the character Friar Laurence.  Friar Laurence is a man of the church, in Verona no doubt it is the Catholic church, but Tchaikovsky, a Russian,  gives the introduction the solemn tones of a Russian orthodox chant! The next theme is one of agitation and drama as it represents the warring Montague and Capulet families, with cymbal clashes symbolizing the clanking together of swords. The next theme is one of soaring passion and beauty, the love theme of Romeo and Juliet. These three themes make up the exposition of the piece.

In the next section of the piece only the themes are developed. After the development, the themes return and move towards a representation by cymbal clashes of the suicides of the lovers. An epilogue with a steady pattern of timpani taps underscores a beautiful reminiscence of the lovers by the woodwinds, the love theme enters one last time and the work ends with a loud climax by the orchestra.

Tchaikovsky - Capriccio Italien, Opus 45

The truth about Tchaikovsky's secret has been long known to the world since his death. The fact that he was homosexual at a time and place where it was looked upon as a very serious matter no doubt contributed to the periods of emotional fragility he had throughout his life.  Tchaikovsky himself fought with his tendencies, for he knew well the consequences if they were discovered. He even went so far as to get married to try and become more normal as defined by society, or at least to give him the appearance of appearing more normal.

That the marriage was a total disaster should be no surprise. Tchaikovsky immediately left his new bride after the honeymoon and promptly had a nervous breakdown. Just what a nervous breakdown is, I've never had explained to me. No doubt it's a catch-all phrase for depression or some such other mental problem. In any case, Tchaikovsky fled to Switzerland. He tried to divorce his wife, and she at first agreed but she changed her mind and threatened to disclose his secret should he press for a divorce.   They stayed married and Tchaikovsky seems to have come to terms with who he was.

After he recuperated from his emotional crisis, he went on to finish an opera, his fourth symphony and violin concerto. Then he roamed Europe and Russia for a few years, never staying in one place for long. He made a trip to Rome during carnival season and it was there he was inspired to write a piece for orchestra based on Italian folk songs. He wrote down some of the songs he heard being played and consulted a volume of Italian folk songs for other examples. It ended up being a very loosely organized composition with songs linked together to make a whole.  In the hands of a lesser composer, the work might have been put together slipshod with the seams showing. But Tchaikovsky was a master composer and excellent craftsman, and the Capriccio Italien works very well on all levels.  It is brilliantly orchestrated and constructed. It has been a crowd-pleaser since it was written and premiered in 1880 in Moscow with Nicolai Rubenstein conducting.

The work opens with a fanfare for trumpets, a tune he heard played outside the window of his hotel in Rome. The piece goes through a number of folk songs of differing moods, and ends with a rousing tarantella, the dance that legend says is caused by the bite of the tarantula spider and makes the victim dance a frenzied dance until death.

 

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 4 In F Minor, Opus 36

For many of the Romantic era composers,  the writing of symphonies presented problems. Especially with the use of sonata form. The great symphonic composers like Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn and even Bruckner used themes when they used sonata form while the Romantics used melodies.

What created the problem was the differences between a theme and a melody. A theme can be a short motif, such as the opening of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, or it can be as long as a Brucknerian theme from one of his symphonies.  It is the character of the theme, the way that it can be changed and developed, that made for the success and utilization of sonata form.  A melody can be beautiful and complete in itself, but not all melodies can be successfully used and developed in sonata form in a symphony.  That is the dilemma that Romantics like Tchaikovsky faced when he began to write symphonies.

Tchaikovsky had a great gift for melody, but he was not the supreme architect like Beethoven who could take a few notes and construct a finely wrought symphonic structure around it. Tchaikovsky's first three symphonies were written in a more strict adherence to sonata form and structure. It wasn't until his 4th symphony that Tchaikovsky wrote a symphony in a very loose symphonic structure.  The 4th was not immediately popular, the premiere of it caused much criticism, probably due to the fact that if a regular concert-goer that was in the audience expected a 'traditional' symphony, they most certainly didn't get one.  But time has proven that Tchaikovsky's way with the symphonic form allowed him to stay more true to his talent. The three symphonies he wrote in this loose form are played way more often than those first three that are closer to tradition.

The 4th Symphony is in the traditional four movements:

I. Andante sostenuto — Moderato con anima — Moderato assai, quasi Andante — Allegro vivo - The many changes of tempo in this movement tell a great deal about the musical and emotional content of it. This movement alone is longer than the other three put together. The music has vitality and power, with melodies that weave in and out of the loose structure,  melodies that are developed, and some that aren't heard but once.  Tchaikovsky's newly discovered way to write a first movement for a symphony fits his musicianship and temperament very well. There is always drama in Tchaikovsky's music, and this movement runs the length of emotion from calm reserve to borderline hysteria.

II.  Andantino in modo di canzona - A beautiful melody is played and configured, with a central section of reflection on things already heard that builds into climax that is related more to the first movement than this one. The opening melody is heard again and there is more of a darkness to it now than the beginning. The music slowly and gently comes to a quiet close.

III. Scherzo: Pizzicato ostinato — Allegro -  One of the most original orchestrations of a master orchestrator, this movement has the strings playing pizzicato throughout. The winds pick up after the opening and play a tune until the brasses interrupt with a marching tune reminiscent of Tchaikovsky's ballet music. The strings return as in the opening, then enter into a dialog with the winds, the music is again interrupted by the marching brass, the pizzicato strings return and end the movement on a quiet note.

IV. Finale: Allegro con fuoco - The movement begins with a clash of cymbals and a rollicking tune. After that, Tchaikovsky quotes and old Russian song, In the Field Stood a Birch Tree. The tune is repeated a few times with different instruments, the first theme that began the movement returns until  the orchestra carries on with variants on the old Russian song. A direct quote from the beginning of the first movement interrupts the proceedings and leads back to the opening of the movement. Snatches of the old Russian folk song are heard and the orchestra whips itself into a grand ending.

 

Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No. 2 In G Major

 The immense popularity of Tchaikovsky's piano concerto in B-flat minor has caused his other two concertos to be somewhat overlooked. This has changed in the past few years as more performances and recordings of the other two concertos have been occuring. While the third concerto exists in but one movement and was published posthumously, the second concerto is a full-fledged Romantic concerto with three movements.

Tchaikovsky wrote the concerto in 1879-1880, and the world premiere was in New York City in 1881. 

I. Allegro brillante e molto vivace - Tchaikovsky had told a friend years earlier that he would never write a piano concerto because he disliked the sound of the piano with orchestra, but he worked out his initial dislike of the sonority in his first piano concerto. With the second, he created an atmosphere where the piano interjects many solo sections within the framework.  The orchestra opens the movement with a march-like theme that is soon taken up by the piano.  This is soon followed by a virtuosic cadenza for soloist. After this, the clarinet heralds the second theme that is presented by the piano, and is developed by the piano and flute. The orchestra takes up the second theme while the piano plays accompaniment figures. The development of the second theme continues with octaves in the piano with interjections by the orchestra. The second theme is played in a variant by the orchestra, and slowly winds down to the beginning of the development section. 

The piano and flute take up the second theme until the piano has another cadenza. The orchestra plays a section in the development until there is another piano cadenza, this one very virtuosic. This leads to the recapitulation which begins with the orchestra. A stunning coda brings  the movement to a close.

II. Andante non troppo - The concerto was published in 1881, but Tchaikovsky was disappointed by the unpopular reception the concerto received after the first performances. He thought it was one of his best compositions. He made some cuts and alterations in it, and in 1888 his publisher suggested that it be reprinted. Alexander Siloti, one of Tchaikovsky's pupils, suggested some cuts in the work, mainly in the second movement. Tchaikovsky rejected most of these suggestions, but the concerto was reprinted after his death in 1893 with all of Siloti's cuts and edits. This edition of the concerto was the dominant version played for many years until the complete works of Tchaikovsky were printed in 1955.  The sections cut in Siloti's version of the second movement were the solo sections for violin and cello, which reduced the movement to around 7 minutes duration, roughly half the time of the original. 

The movement begins with a short introduction by the orchestra that leads to a solo violin that plays along until a solo cello joins it in a duet. The soloist is silent for an extended time in the beginning of the movement, so that along with the total performance time of about 45 minutes prompted Siloti to make the cuts. Why anyone would think that they knew better than the composer in this matter is a mystery, but it was a time before the more modern era of urtext editions and the thought that what the composer had written was sacrosanct. The piano enters and plays its version of the music. slowly tension builds until the cello and violin return to play a duet that brings the movement back to the mood of the beginning. The piano joins them in a mostly secondary role until it has a short solo before the orchestra and piano bring the movement to a close. 

III. Allegro con fuoco - The soloist is the only star in the finale with fleet fingerwork and octaves. The movement has two main themes, the first heard straight away and the second soon after. Near the ned of the movement, the pianist thunders away, and then slowly gets softer and softer, until there is a momentary silence before the orchestra loudly begins the music anew, until with a thunder of chords and arpeggios, the soloist and orchestra end the concerto.

Tchaikovsky - String Quartet No. 3 In E-flat Minor, Opus 30

Pyotr Tchaikovsky wrote very little chamber music, only eight pieces in all. An early string quartet and quintet for harp and string quartet went without opus numbers. Of the six numbered compositions there are three string quartets, a work for violin and piano, the In Memory Of A Great Artist piano trio and the Souvenir of Florence string sextet.

All three numbered sring quartets were written between 1871-1876, with the 3rd quartet being written in Paris and Moscow early in 1876. The work was dedicated to Tchaikovsky's friend Ferdinand Laub, who played first violin in the premieres of the first two string quartets. Laub had died suddenly in 1875 at 43 years of age.

The quartet was first played a few weeks after its composition at the home of Nikolai Rubinstein's house (who died in 1881 and was the dedicatee of Tchaikovsky's piano trio in 1882). It has 4 movements:

Ferdinand Laub

I. Andante Sostenuto - Allegro moderato - The work begins in a solemn mood with a long introduction that consists of two themes. The initial theme is carried by the first violin with interjections of harmony by the other strings. The next theme also begins on the first violin with pizzicato accompaniment. The theme is then taken up by the cello. The proper beginning of the movement is marked by the playing of a quietly agitated theme. The next theme is more lyrical but remains laced with underlying tension. A short section leads to the development section where the two themes struggle back and forth. The themes change guises as they return for the recapitulation. Material from the introduction returns and the movement quietly ends.

II.  Allegretto vivo e scherzando - After the long and uneasy first movement, the scherzo brings a welcome contrast. The scherzo itself is restless as it bounces notes from instrument to instrument. The middle section highlights a mellow theme played by the viola. The scherzo returns and after a short coda the movement ends quietly.

III. Andante funebre e doloroso, ma con moto -  Contrast is provided by a third movement that is not only considerably longer than the previous one, but of a lugubrious character as well. Tchaikovsky creates a sullen mood immediately by the playing of a funeral march.

Muted strings played at a relatively loud volume create an other-worldly sound and add to the sadness. This movement is the heart of the quartet, and conveys Tchaikovsky's loss of  friend and colleague Ferdinand Laub. A mellow theme plays after the march and is traded off between violin and cello. The funeral march returns as the first violin plays a lament over it. The mellow theme returns and segues back into the funeral march. As the march plays, the cello intones a repeated B-flat as the march and other materials reappear. The movement ends with all four instruments playing a high pianissimo E-flat minor chord.

IV. Finale: Allegro non troppo e risoluto - A vigorous rondo movement ends the quartet. Themes are reminiscent of Russian folksong, along with a continuation of the overall uneasiness of the previous movements. There is a manic quality to this movement that is halted by the recollection of a fragment of the 1st movement. The manic music picks up where it left off and ends the movement.

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 5 In E Minor

When Pyotr Tchaikovsky got the idea to write his 5th Symphony in early 1888, he was full of self doubt, a frame of mind that recurred throughout his composing career. He had not composed a symphony in ten years, and he was concerned that perhaps he had written himself out as a composer. Despite his frame of mind, he pushed on and by August of 1888 he had the symphony completed.

The first performances of the new work in November and December of 1888 in St. Petersburg did little to alleviate Tchaikovsky's doubts, as he made clear in letters to his benefactor Nadezhda von Meck:

My new symphony was played twice in Saint Petersburg... I am convinced that this symphony is not a success. There is something so repellent about such excess, insincerity and artificiality... With each day that passes I am increasingly certain that my last symphony is not a successful work, and the realisation that it is unsuccessful (or perhaps that my powers are declining) is very distressing to me. The symphony is too colorful, massive, insincere, drawn out and on the whole very unsympathetic... Am I indeed, as they say, written out?... If so, then this is terrible. Whether my misgivings are mistaken or not, regrettably I have concluded that the symphony written in 1888 is poorer than the one written in 1877.

The work was well received in Russia despite Tchaikovsky's reservations, and a performance in Hamburg in 1889 caused the composer to change his opinion of the work.  The first performances in the United States did not fare as well. The New York performance of 1889 was very negative, but the review of the Boston performance of 1892 as written in one of the local newspapers was particularly harsh:

The general style of the orchestration is essentially modern, and even ultra-modern... is less untamed in spirit than the composer’s B-flat minor Concerto, less recklessly harsh in its polyphonic writing, less indicative of the composer’s disposition to swear a theme’s way through a stone wall. . . . In the Finale we have all the untamed fury of the Cossack, whetting itself for deeds of atrocity, against all the sterility of the Russian Steppes. The furious peroration sounds like nothing so much as a horde of demons struggling in a torrent of brandy, the music growing drunker and drunker. Pandemonium, delirium tremens, raving, and above all, noise worse confounded!

The 5th Symphony has been compared to Beethoven's 5th in the sense that within both works there is a sense of overcoming adversity, and that very broad comparison is valid. It is the manner in which these two very different composers go about it that make both works masterpieces. The symphony is in four movements:

I. Andante - Allegro con anima -  The theme, or fate theme that appears in all four movements is played straight away by the clarinets with a sparse accompaniment from the strings:

This theme continues and serves as an introduction to the first movement proper, which begins when the tempo quickens slightly and the new first theme is heard played by a bassoon and clarinet. This new theme is played through, along with subsidiary thematic material until a new passionate theme begins in the strings. A second theme appears in the woodwinds and is taken up by the strings in a dance-like mood. The exposition merges into the development section that devotes much of its time to the working out of the first theme. The second theme appears only briefly. The recapitulation begins with the first theme played by the bassoon, after which the material from the exposition is repeated. The music grows quiet as a portion of the fate theme is played and the music dies away.

II. Andante cantabile con alcuna licenza -  The second movement is in B minor, with the first theme modulating to D major as played by a solo horn. An oboe joins in before the theme continues in the strings with comments by the woodwinds. This theme is brought to a climax before the clarinet introduced another theme. This theme develops and builds until it is brutally interrupted by the fate theme. After a short silence, the orchestra recovers from the intrusion and continues with the first theme that opened the movement. The music builds to another climax on the first theme and as it is winding down the fate theme once again rudely interrupts.  The first theme returns in a subdued mood and gradually passes into silence.

III. Valse. Allegro moderato -  Tchaikovsky exchanges the usual scherzo movement for a waltz, at least in name and initial feeling, but the middle section resembles a scherzo by its busy nature and rhythmic play. The waltz and trio is played with the trio as an accompaniment before the waltz returns in full. Just as the waltz is winding down, the fate theme returns for a short interruption before the waltz ends with loud chords.

IV. Finale. Andante maestoso–Allegro vivace - The fate theme  as played in the strings begins the finale and builds to a climax and after a short transition the first theme proper thunders from the orchestra in full voice and fury.  A second theme is introduced by the oboe, and a third by the flutes. The fate theme reappears in regal form as an episode that begins the development section. A new theme briefly appears, and the recapitulation begins. The fate theme reappears briefly and the orchestra plays majestic chords in B major, followed by a fermata rest, which gives the impression to the ear that the symphony has reached its end. This has caused more than one audience to erupt in applause, but it is but the end of the recapitulation. A coda begins in the key of E major with the most majestic version of the fate theme yet played. The forlorn, funereal theme has been transformed to one of molto maestoso. Other snippets of themes are played until the fate theme returns one last time to finish the symphony.

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6 In B Minor 'Pathetique'

Pyotr Tchaikovsky conducted the premiere of his final symphony on October 28, 1893 in St. Petersburg. Nine days later he died, and the rumors still persist concerning what were the causes of his death. The rumors were fanned by the Sixth Symphony itself, titled Pathetique (in this particular sense meaning emotional and suffering) especially in the mournful, dying music of the last movement.

At first his death was attributed to the cholera epidemic of the time and from the beginning the idea of suicide made the rounds, while modern scholarship retains the theory of suicide with an added explanation; Tchaikovsky was called to a court of honor over his homosexual affairs especially with a Russian noble, and offered the options of taking his own life or having the affairs made public.  The jury is still out on all of that. Tchaikovsky himself said there was a program behind the symphony, but he never divulged what it was. It all remains a great perhaps, but while the meaning behind the symphony will never be known for certain, Tchaikovsky left behind one of the masterworks of the symphonic literature.

Symphony No. 6 In B Minor is in 4 movements:

I. Adagio – Allegro non troppo - The symphony begins in the black tones of a solo bassoon accompanied by the strings. This continues with changes of instrumentation for 18 measures before the first theme is heard in the strings and then the winds. There is an extended working out of secondary material as the music steadily builds in tension and movement. The music begins to fade as transitional material leads to the actual second theme which is heard in muted violins in the key of D major. This theme also goes through an extended working out of minor material. The second theme reappears in a more passionate version, after which the music gradually gets softer and a clarinet takes up the beginning of the second theme and repeats it ever softer until it hands the last half measure to the solo bassoon, which Tchaikovsky directs to play in what must be one of the most radical dynamic markings in all of classical music:

After a very short fermata on the last almost imperceptible D of the bassoon, the orchestra shouts out in double forte short transitional material that announces the development section where a fragment of the first theme is given a fugal treatment. A brief new theme acts as a bridge back to fragments of the first theme that build to a tremendous clamor. In a descent that is almost painful the music gradually works down to the depths of despair in the low brass.  With the first theme getting most of the attention in  the development, Tchaikovsky doesn't repeat it in the recapitulation but goes directly to the second theme, which appears with an agitated accompaniment in the low strings. The theme builds in passion and slowly fades in volume. A solo clarinet takes up the theme once again, and leads to the coda which takes on the characteristics of a march as the music gently dissolves.

II. Allegro con grazia -  The second movement is in contrast to the preceding movement.  Tchaikovsky writes the entire movement is 5/4 time, 2 beats alternating with 3 beats, but the music flows smoothly despite the irregular meter.  A middle section in B minor breaks the lyricism of the theme as the timpani beats out a steady rhythm under the throbbing strings. After this interlude, the dancing theme skips its way to a coda that refers to the middle section before it gently ends.

III. Allegro molto vivace -  The third movement is in even more contrast to what has gone before and what is to come. It is a march/scherzo that begins softly and builds throughout the movement until the march theme is played in full volume along with cymbal crashes and grand thumps from the bass drum and timpani until it ends with a roar. Contrary to concert tradition and etiquette, in live performances this movement many times causes the audience to erupt in applause that is almost a release of tension this music can create.

IV. Finale: Adagio lamentoso – Andante - The strings begin this movement as Tchaikovsky creates a feeling of despair as the strings play the theme and accompaniment in contrary motion. The bassoons enter and drop the despair to the depths. Another theme appears in the strings in D major, but despite the major tonality the theme has its own brand of sadness. This theme builds to a climax and the bottom falls out as the strings descend to silence. The opening sighs are heard again in fragments until the string play an ascending chromatic run that returns the entire first theme. This theme continues until it turns sinister as it is accompanied by stopped horns. The brass play a short chorale and the music sinks back into the despair with which it began. A fragment of the theme is heard over and over in dynamics that sink to the very bottom of human hearing. The faint beating of a dying heart is heard in the low strings until it expires in a whisper.

Tchaikovsky - String Sextet 'Souvenir de Florence'

When Tchaikovsky was made an honorary member of the Saint Petersburg Chamber Music Society in 1886 he promised to compose a chamber work and dedicate it to the society. After he decided the work was going to be a string sextet, he made some preliminary sketches in 1887 , but it wasn't until June of 1890 that he started to work on it in earnest. Tchaikovsky mentioned the sextet in letters to his friends and told of the difficulty he had in writing in what was a new form for him.  By November of 1890 the work was completed, but Tchaikovsky would not allow it to be published until he heard it in performance. There was a private performance of the work in Tchaikovsky's apartment in December, after which Tchaikovsky decided to rework the last two movements. It wasn't until December of 1892 that the first public performance of the original work was played.  Tchaikovsky's revised version was heard the same month and year. The revised version was published in June of 1892 and as promised carried a dedication to the Saint Petersburg Chamber Music Society. The title of the sextet refers to a trip Tchaikovsky made to Florence, Italy where he had sketched one of the work's themes. The work is for two violins, two violas, and two cellos. It is in 4 movements:

I. Allegro con spirito - The movement begins straight away with a spirited theme in D minor. The second theme is more lyrical and expansive in nature. The exposition is not repeated. The development section contends with the D minor first theme by way of a fugal treatment, the second theme expands its singing qualities. There is a short section where both themes play off each other that leads to the recapitulation which is followed by a coda. The first theme grows in intensity, speed is increased followed by the final chords.

II. Adagio cantabile e con moto - Full chords open the second movement in music that is in sharp contrast to the preceding movement. The gently sad D major theme is played by a violin to a pizzicato accompaniment. Soon the cello enters with the theme while the violin plays a counter melody. There is a mysterious middle section marked moderato that is more of an interlude, as it doesn't have any thematic connection with the rest of the movement. It is in D minor and consists of rapid sixteenth note triplets played up and down the fingerboard and Tchaikovsky instructs the players to play with the tip of the bow which gives a different texture to the sound. After this short diversion, the melody returns in the cello, the accompaniment is varied as the tune is expanded. The music is marked cantabile and slowly winds down, ending with a dynamic marking of  a hushed quadruple piano.

III.Allegretto moderato - A scherzo in all but name, it is in the key of A minor and time signature of 2/4 rather than the more conventional triple time of a scherzo. The theme is first stated by a viola and then by a violin. The trio is in A major and even more energetic. The scherzo returns and continues ot bounce and sway until it reaches a short coda ended by a pungent pizzicato chord by all six instruments.

IV.Allegro con brio e vivace - The finale continues the energy of the scherzo. It returnsto the home key of D minor, with the first theme played by a violin. After it runs its course a short fugal section appeas before the second theme appears. It is no less energetic than the first theme and after it has its say the development begins with the first theme being worked up to a fever pitch. The fugal section reappears but is more involved and complex this time around. The first theme gives way to the second theme once again and the music continues ot grow in intensity until the coda arrives which is marked piu vivace with a quadruple forte. The music becomes yet more intense as the strings run breathlessly to the closing chords.

Tchaikovsky was a man of incredibly complex and powerful emotions which caused him to have many a personal crisis, including periodic episodes of severe depression. The work is emotional in the extreme and caused Tchaikovsky much anguish and work to finish it, but he was justly proud of what he had accomplished and said so in a letter to his brother:

"What a sextet - what a fugue at the end - it's a pleasure! It is awful how pleased I am with myself: I am embarrassed not by any lack of ideas but by the novelty of the form."

The  Souvenir de Florence has within its pages the passion Tchaikovsky had for Florence as evidenced in the first two movements and the love he had for his native Russia which can be heard in the final two movements. It is a masterpiece of composition and emotion. The Souvenir de Florence was the only sextet he would write and it came late in his career, but three years before his controversial death in 1893.

Tchaikovsky - Marche Slav

An artist is above all a human being, perhaps a human being to the nth degree. Tchaikovsky was such a human. His music can be passionate, emotional, sometimes completely over the top. He is a composer that was emotionally very vulnerable, and his great 'secret' of homosexuality made him all the more vulnerable emotionally and in other ways as well. Indeed, modern scholarship has refuted the 'official' cause of his death to drinking unboiled water during a cholera epidemic,  to suicide ordered by a 'court of honor'  because of his homosexual encounter with a member of the nobility.  That the court of honor would have exposed his secret was probably more than Tchaikovsky could have handled.

When Tchaikovsky's politics are considered, it makes for an interesting comparison with his outlook on his art. Politically, he was an ultra-conservative that was even against the freeing of the serfs in 1861, and was adamantly pro-Czar in his sympathies. His music and compositions were far from conservative, were progressive and in some instances revolutionary. But as with all human beings, Tchaikovsky could be an enigma on occasion.  Adamant about his outlook on his art, just as adamant on his outlook on politics and society, even if they are polar opposites.

Perhaps that is why such an emotional, heart-on-his-sleeve composer such as Tchaikovsky could write a piece such as the 1812 Overture and Marche Slav.  Both are patriotic pieces, and both even share some musical material. Marche Slav was commissioned by the Russian Music Society for a Red Cross benefit for Serbian soldiers that were fighting in a war against The Ottoman Empire.  Russia was an ally of Serbia and eventually did enter the war on the side of the Serbs.  Tchaikovsky wrote it using Serbian tunes and the Russian National Anthem of the time,  'God Save The Czar'. The Russian anthem is used to depict whe n the Russians entered the war and 'rescued' the Serbs.

Make no mistake, this music is a potboiler no matter how it's looked at. A piece of patriotism, written for money by a great composer to help pay the bills, but also because Tchaikovsky perhaps looked at it as a 'patriotic' thing to do. But all of that is no matter, in the final analysis. I've liked this piece from the first time I heard it, and after over thirty years of music listening, I still like it.  All of that probably says more about my taste in music than anything,  but I also think it shows that a great composer can catch your ear even when they write a potboiler.

 

Tchaikovsky - Piano Trio 'In Memory Of A Great Artist'

Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840 -1893)  refused to write a piano trio for his benefactor Nadezhda von Meck, saying in a letter to her in 1880,  "You ask why I have never written a trio. Forgive me, dear friend; I would do anything to give you pleasure, but this is beyond me ... I simply cannot endure the combination of piano with violin or cello. To my mind the timbre of these instruments will not blend..."

But upon the death of close friend and mentor Nicolai Rubinstein who had died in March of 1881, Tchaikovsky seems to have had a change of heart. He ended up writing a piano trio and subtitling it 'In Memory Of A Great Artist' in tribute to his friend.  It was the only piano trio he ever wrote.

The work went through several versions with the final version being completed in February 1882.  A private performance was held at the Moscow Conservatory on March 23, 1882, the one year anniversary of Nicolai Rubinstein's death, but Tchaikovsky was in Italy.  he heard the trio in another private performance in April, after which he made some revisions to the work.

The trio is in two proper movements, although the 2nd movement contains two distinct sections. For a chamber work it is rather long and takes about three quarters of an hour to perform. The piano part is some of the most difficult music Tchaikovsky wrote for the piano, including the piano concertos.

The first movement is full of dark, funereal music. The second movement is a set of variations that segues into a Finale that is some of the most tragic, emotional music ever written by Tchaikovsky, and for a composer known for his emotionally-charged music, that is saying quite a lot.

Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio in A Minor ' In Memory Of A Great Artist ' :

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No.2 in C Minor, ' Little Russian '

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893) was a Russian composer most widely known for his orchestral music. He wrote Ballets, Operas and Symphonies and also music for piano solo and with orchestra, and  chamber music. Tchaikovsky was educated for a civil service career, but went against his family wishes and studied music at the St. Petersburg  Conservatory.  He later became a professor of Music Theory at the school.

Tchaikovsky's musical education at St. Petersburg was influenced heavily by Western and especially German music. He did not become a member of The Five,  although he did use Russian folk song material on occasion. The 2nd Symphony gets its nickname from 3 Ukranian (Little Russia) folk songs Tchaikovsky used in the Symphony.

The Symphony is in 4 movements:

• Andante sostenuto - Allegro vivo  (Slow and sustained - Lively with vigor) A solo horn plays the song, Down By Mother Volga to begin the movement. 
• Andantino marziale, quasi moderato  ( Medium fast march, kind of at a walking pace) He quotes the song, Spin, Oh My Spinner in the central section of this movement.
• Scherzo, Allegro molto vivace ( Very fast and lively) No actual folk song quoted, but has the quality of a folk song.
• Finale, Moderato assai - Allegro Vivo (Very moderately - Lively with vigor)  The folk song The Crane is the basis for a set of variations.