May 5 Program Notes: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky following his own path by blending discovery of Édouard Lalo’s violin- steps back from the emotional (1840-1893) national Russian elements with centric Symphonie espagnole (much turbulence and soul-searching techniques and forms he learned from as his enthusiasm for Carmen, which attitude of the contemporaneous Concerto for Violin in D Western tradition. While the Mighty he encountered in 1876, left its Fourth Symphony, though it exhibits major, Op. 35 Five prized do-it-yourselfness and mark on the Fourth Symphony). an extroverted theatricality of its scorned professional What Tchaikovsky admired in the own. Born on May 7, 1840, in Votkinsk, training, Tchaikovsky attended Lalo piece, he wrote, was the focus Russia; died on November 6, 1893, in St. Tchaikovsky integrates a considerable the conservatory and began to prepare on “musical beauty” instead of the Petersburg, Russia. arsenal of technical challenges for routines of “established traditions.” his career methodically. the soloist with a juicy, unhurried Tchaikovsky composed the Violin Concerto But all his careful planning could As it happened, the young violinist lyricism that somehow also manages in 1878. First performance: December 4, not have prepared the composer for who brought Lalo’s score to his to touch on the epic. Although darker 1881, in Vienna, with Adolph Brodsky as the events of 1877 and the turmoil they attention, a recent student of undercurrents occasionally intrude, the soloist and Hans Richter conducting. In would cause. Tchaikovsky named Iosif Kotek, the stereotype of the hyper-emotive, addition to solo violin, Tchaikovsky’s Violin provided a further impetus. Possibly crisis-ridden Tchaikovsky takes a Concerto calls for 2 flutes, One of the handsome bachelor’s a former lover, Kotek served as a holiday; in its stead we encounter an 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, most ill-fated decisions had been very practical muse by advising almost Mediterranean gracefulness. 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and his attempt to offset gossip about the composer on technical matters strings. Duration: 38 minutes. his sexuality through a smokescreen Beneath all the pyrotechnics, marriage to a lovesick former student, about the solo part. To give maximal meanwhile, lies a wealth of inventive Antonina Miliukova. Soon after the advantage to its prospects, however, reimagining of the material. The first chaikovsky wrote his only violin wedding, Tchaikovsky abandoned his Tchaikovsky dedicated the Concerto theme, for example, cleverly emerges concerto within less than a month to celebrity violinist Leopold T bride and fled to a temporary exile in from what seems to be a free-flight in the spring of 1878 while abroad Auer. Though he later became the western Europe. improvisation, while all three themes in Switzerland. Though the violinist Concerto’s eloquent advocate, in the exposition play up various for whom it was intended originally There he at last experienced a period Auer initially rejected the score aspects of the solo instrument’s rejected it, the Concerto’s irresistible of relative emotional calm while as “unviolinistic” and declined to personality. Like Mendelssohn in his blend of lyricism, epic breadth, and sojourning in the Swiss town of Clarens perform the premiere. earlier Violin Concerto, Tchaikovsky festive energy has made it one of the on the north side of Lake Geneva. positions his cadenza earlier than Despite Auer’s reservations, the Violin composer’s most beloved scores and a Tchaikovsky composed the Violin usual, at the end of the development. Concerto is carefully attuned to the cornerstone of the violin repertory. Concerto during the following spring in Its music represents an intriguing solo violin’s expressive flexibility, a whirlwind of inspiration that seemed synthesis of thematic splicing and In his early years, the composer had ranging from elevated lyricism to underscore his sense of recovery “showy” technical hurdles. an ambivalent relationship with the to rhythmic vivacity. In a sense, from what the composer described to so-called “Mighty Five”—a group of Tchaikovsky may have found relief As a contrast to the opening his brother as his “brief insanity.” composers (including Mussorgsky and in wearing the “mask” of the violin Mediterranean character, the other Rimsky-Korsakov) intent on creating Another catalyst, according to in the framework of a genre that two movements, remarks David an authentically Russian national biographer David Brown, was purely could showcase his obvious gift for Brown, seem suddenly to inject the musical style. Tchaikovsky ended up musical: Tchaikovsky’s recent sustained melody. The music clearly composer’s “Russian voice.” The

May 5, 2016 May 5, 2016 Canzonetta was actually a replacement In his notoriously vicious review (composed in a single day!) for an of the world premiere (given in earlier slow movement Tchaikovsky Vienna, in the composer’s absence), intuited didn’t feel right for the piece. critic Eduard Hanslick had written In this simple, light song, the soloist disparagingly of the scene of “vulgar indeed seems to vocalize a gently and savage faces,” “crude curses,” and muted, melancholy aria of pristine the smell of cheap booze the finale emotion. conjured for him. Most audiences,

Because it’s directly linked, the finale however, have been more than happy comes as even more of a surprise, to be guests at this village party. rapidly disrupting the Canzonetta’s —© Thomas May soulful spell. Here the ethereal Thomas May writes about the arts soloist becomes an earthy fiddler, for a variety of international publications playing with blood-rushing abandon. and blogs at memeteria.com.

May 5, 2016 May 5, 2016