Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer whose works included symphonies, concertos, operas, ballets, chamber music, and a choral setting of the Russian Orthodox Divine Liturgy. Some of these are among the most popular theatrical music in the classical repertoire. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally, which he bolstered with appearances as a guest conductor later in his career in Europe and the United States. One of these appearances was at the inaugural concert of Carnegie Hall in New York City in 1891. Tchaikovsky was honored in 1884 by Emperor Alexander III and awarded a lifetime pension in the late 1880s.

Although musically precocious, Tchaikovsky was educated for a career as a civil servant. There was scant opportunity for a musical career in Russia at that 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 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 this reconciliation, he forged a personal but unmistakably Russian style—a task that did not prove easy. The principles that governed melody, harmony and other fundamentals of Russian music ran completely counter to those that governed Western European music; this 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. This 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, which was his 13-year association with the wealthy widow Nadezhda von Meck. 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; there is an ongoing debate as to whether cholera was indeed the cause of death, or if it was accidental or self-inflicted.

While his music has remained popular among audiences, critical opinions were initially mixed. Some Russians did not feel it was sufficiently representative of native musical values and expressed suspicion that Europeans accepted the music for its Western elements. In an apparent reinforcement of the latter claim, some Europeans lauded Tchaikovsky for offering music more substantive than base exoticism and said he transcended stereotypes of Russian classical music. Others dismissed Tchaikovsky’s music as “lacking in elevated thought,” according to longtime New York Times music critic Harold C. Schonberg, and derided its formal workings as deficient because they did not stringently follow Western principles.

He displayed exceptional musical ability from an early age, improvising at the piano and composing his first song in 1844, aged four.

Tchaikovsky persuaded his father that music was his future and he began composition lessons with Anton Rubinstein in 1861.

The day Tchaikovsky’s mother left him at boarding school was so traumatic that it remained in his memory to the end of his days. He had to be torn away from her, and even then he clung to the wheels of her carriage to stop her from leaving. It’s little wonder, given his sensitive nature, that his music is imbued with such a strong sense of emotion and despair.

Between 1871 and 1876 he produced a series of great works, including Swan Lake (1876) and the First Piano Concerto (1875), which established him as Russia’s leading composer.

Following his ill-fated, short-lived marriage in 1877, he made a failed attempt at committing suicide.

1880 saw Tchaikovsky compose perhaps his most famous piece, the 1812 Overture – cannons at the ready!

By 1887, he was conducting his own music to great acclaim and producing such works as the Sixth Symphony, the ‘Pathetique’ in 1893 (the year of his death), and the ballets The Sleeping Beauty (1890) and The Nutcracker (1892).

His death in 1893 in St. Petersburg was believed to be a result of a decision made by a ‘court of honor’ following revelations that Tchaikovsky had formed a relationship with a male member of the Russian aristocracy; it was apparently decided that the only course of action open to the composer was for him to commit suicide. It is more commonly attributed to cholera, however.

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Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23

This masterpiece was composed between November 1874 and February 1875. It was revised in the summer of 1879 and again in December 1888. It is one of the most popular of Tchaikovsky’s compositions and among the best known of all piano concertos.

The concerto follows the traditional form of three movements:
1. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso – Allegro con spirito (B flat minor → B flat major)
2. Andantino semplice – Allegro vivace assai/Prestissimo (D flat major)
3. Allegro con fuoco (B flat minor → B flat major)

In this video, the concert is performed by Seong-jin Cho with the Moscow Conservatory Orchestra conducted by Alexander Dmitriev. The concert took place on June 29, 2011, in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory when Seong-jin Cho – at the age of 17 – won the 3rd prize in the 14th International Tchaikovsky Competition.

Here is another fine video showing a performance by Anna Fedorova with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie conducted by Yves Abel. The concert took place on 14th October 2018 in the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

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Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, Op. 44

This was written in 1879–1880 and dedicated to Nikolai Rubinstein, who had insisted he be allowed to perform it at the premiere as a way of making up for his harsh criticism of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. But Rubinstein was destined never to play it, as he died in March 1881, and the work has never attained much popularity.

The premiere performance took place in New York City, on 12 November 1881. The soloist was Madeline Schiller, and Theodore Thomas conducted the New York Philharmonic orchestra. The first Russian performance was in Moscow in May 1882, conducted by Anton Rubinstein with Tchaikovsky’s pupil, Sergei Taneyev, at the piano.

The piano concerto consists of three movements:
I.Allegro brilliante e molto vivace. 0:38-21:11
II. Andante non troppo. 21:39-34:20
III. Allegro con fuoco. 34:38

In the video, the concerto is performed by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra with pianist Yefim Bronfman and conducted by Paavo Järvi.

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Violin Concerto D Major Op.35

This was written in 1878 and it is one of the best-known violin concertos.
The piece was written in Clarens, a Swiss resort on the shores of Lake Geneva, where Tchaikovsky had gone to recover from the depression brought on by his disastrous marriage to Antonina Miliukova. He was joined by his composition pupil, the violinist Iosif Kotek, who had been in Berlin for violin studies with Joseph Joachim.

The first performance was eventually given by Adolph Brodsky on December 4, 1881, in Vienna, under the baton of Hans Richter.

The concerto is in three movements:

Allegro moderato (D major)
Canzonetta: Andante (G minor)
Finale: Allegro vivacissimo (D major)

The second and third movements are played attacca, with no break between them.

In this video, the concert is performed by Julia Fischer with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by Vasily Petrenko.

Here is another fine video performance of the concert by Bomsori Kim and KBS Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fabio Luisi.

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Symphony No. 1 in G minor (Winter Dreams) Op. 13

This was written in 1866, just after Tschaikowsky accepted a professorship at the Moscow Conservatory: it is the composer’s earliest notable work. The composer’s brother Modest claimed this work cost Tchaikovsky more labor and suffering than any of his other works. Even so, he remained fond of it, writing to his patroness Nadezhda von Meck in 1883 that “although it is in many ways very immature, yet fundamentally it has more substance and is better than any of my other more mature works.” He dedicated the symphony to Nikolai Rubinstein.

The symphony has four movements:
I. Allegro tranquillo ∙ 00:23
II. Adagio cantabile ma non tanto ∙ 12:09
III. Scherzo. Allegro scherzando giocoso ∙ 23:07
IV. Finale. Andante lugubre – Allegro moderato – Allegro maestoso – Andante lugubre – Allegro vivo ∙ 31:00

In the video, the symphony is performed by Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paavo Järvi. The concert took place in the Alte Oper in Frankfurt on the 14th of December 2012.

Here is another fine video performance of the symphony by the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra conducted by Joshua Dos Santos. The concert took place in the Simon Bolivar Hall on the 16th of February, 2014.

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Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17

This was composed in 1872. One of Tchaikovsky’s joyful compositions, it was successful right from its premiere and also won the favor of the group of nationalistic Russian composers known as “The Five”, led by Mily Balakirev. Because Tchaikovsky used three Ukrainian folk songs to great effect in this work, it was nicknamed the “Little Russian” by Nikolay Kashkin, a friend of the composer as well as a well-known music critic of Moscow. Ukraine was at that time frequently called “Little Russia”.

The symphony has four movements:
Andante sostenuto—Allegro vivo (C minor).
Andantino marziale, quasi moderato (E-flat major).
Scherzo. Allegro molto vivace (C minor).
Finale. Moderato assai—Allegro vivo (C major).

In the video, the symphony is performed by the Izmir State Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gints Glinka.

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Symphony No. 3 in D major, Op. 29

This was written in 1875. it is written a major key and it has five movements. The symphony was premiered in Moscow on 19 November 1875, under the baton of Nikolai Rubinstein, at the first concert of the Russian Music Society’s season.
In the final movement, Polish dance rhythms are prominent. This could be interpreted as a symbol of Polish independence, but it was also the musical code for the Romanov dynasty and, by extension, Russian imperialism.

The five movements are:
I. Introduzione e Allegro: 0.55
II. Alla tedesco: Allegro moderato e semplice: 14:39
III. Andante elegiaco: 21:43
IV. Scherzo: Allegro vivo: 32:03
V. Finale: Allegro con Fulco. Tempo di Polacca: 38:02

In the video, the symphony is performed by the Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Rico Saccani. The encore is the song Yablochko (“Little Apple”) from the ballet The Red Poppy by the Russian composer Reinhold Glière.

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Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36,

This symphony was written between 1877 and 1878. Its first performance was at a Russian Musical Society concert in Moscow on February 22, 1878, with Nikolai Rubinstein as conductor. In Middle Europe, it sometimes receives the nickname “Fatum,” or “Fate.”

There are four movements:
1.- Andante Sostenuto – Moderato con anima – Moderato assai, quasi Andante – Allegro vivo
2.- Andantino in modo di canzona
3.- Scherzo: Pizzicato ostinato
4.- Finale: Allegro con fuoco

In this video, the symphony is performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev.

Here is another video performance by the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra conducted by Manuel López-Gómez.

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Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64

This symphony was composed between May and August 1888 and was first performed in St Petersburg at the Mariinsky Theatre on November 18 of that year with Tchaikovsky conducting.

The Symphony is in four movements:

I. Andante – Scherzo. Allegro con anima – Molto più tranquillo (0:00)
II. Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza – Non allegro – Andante maestoso con piano (15:16)
III. Valse. Allegro moderato (29:13)
IV. Finale. Andante maestoso (con fiamma) – Non allegro – Presto molto furioso – Molto assai e molto maestoso – Allegro vivace (34:29)

The video shows a performance of the symphony by the State Symphony Orchestra of the Russian Federation ‘Evgeny Svetlanov’ conducted by Vasily Petrenko. The concert took place in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, Moscow, 21 December 2015.

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Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, Pathétique

This is Tchaikovsky’s final completed symphony, written between February and the end of August 1893. The composer led the first performance in Saint Petersburg on 28 October of that year, nine days before his death. The second performance, conducted by Eduard Nápravník, took place 21 days later, at a memorial concert. It included some minor corrections that Tchaikovsky had made after the premiere, and was thus the first performance of the work in the exact form in which it is known today. There are 4 movements:

1. Adagio – Allegro non-troppo (B minor – D major – ambiguous key – B major)
2. Allegro con grazia (D major – B minor – D major)
3. Presto: Allegro molto vivace (G major – E major – G major)
4. Finale: Adagio lamentoso – Andante (B minor – D major – B minor)

Here is a fine video performance by Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse conducted by Tugan Sokhiev.

Here is another fine video showing a performance of the symphony by Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by Myung-Whun Chung.

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Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker Suite

In this video, the waltz is performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

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Waltz from Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48

In this video, the waltz is performed by Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra Of Venezuela conducted by Ulysses Ascanio.