The Storm and Letter 2185: Difference between pages

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Tchaikovsky's overture to [[Aleksandr Ostrovsky]]'s drama '''''The Storm''''' (Гроза), [[Op.]] 64 ([[TH]] 36 ; [[ČW]] 33), was his first significant orchestral work. It was written while he was studying at the [[Saint Petersburg]] Conservatory, and composed and orchestrated during his summer vacation at [[Trostinets]] in 1864.  
{{letterhead
|Date=3/15 January 1883
|To=[[Nikolay Konradi]]
|Place=[[Paris]]
|Language=Russian
|Autograph={{locunknown}}
|Publication={{bibx|1951/52|П. И. Чайковский. С. И. Танеев. Письма}} (1951), p. 262–263<br/>{{bib|1970/86|П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений ; том XII}} (1970), p. 13.
|Notes=Manuscript copy in [[Klin]] (Russia): {{RUS-KLč}}
}}
==Text and Translation==
Based on a handwritten copy in the {{RUS-KLč}} at [[Klin]], which may contain differences in formatting and content from Tchaikovsky's original letter.
{{Lettertext
|Language=Russian
|Translator=Brett Langston
|Original text={{right|''Париж''<br/>3/15 января 1883 г[ода]}}
{{centre|Милый, дорогой Николаша!}}
Думаю, что это письмо уже не застанет Модеста, а потому пишу прямо тебе. Вчера приехал я в Париж. В Берлине я провёл 3 дня, из коих последний проскучал и протосковал, должно быть от того, что погода была отвратительная, а именно холодный, морозный ветер без снега. Зато подъезжая к Парижу, к удивлению — нашёл здесь совсем весеннюю погоду, так что вчера вечером, по приезде, гулял по бульвару водном сюртуке.


==Instrumentation==
''Hôtel Richepanse'' (нужно писать Richepanse, а не ''Richepance'') оказался очень чистенький и миленький, но комнату я получил пока мест неудобную, очень шумную и тёмную. Обещают переменить. Сегодня буду целый день устраиваться, а начиная с завтра примусь за занятия.
The overture is scored for a large orchestra consisting of piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets (in A), 2 bassoons + 4 horns (in A, C, E), 2 trumpets (in E), 3 trombones, tuba + 2 timpani, side drum, cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam + harp, violins I, violins II, violas, cellos, and double basses.


==Duration==
С нетерпением ожидаю Модеста. Я чувствую, что покамест он будет один, его будет мучить тоска об тебе, и только, когда мы соединимся, ему будет легче.
There is one movement: Andante misterioso—Allegro vivo (E minor, 441 bars), which lasts approximately 12 to 15 minutes in performance.


==Subject==
Засим прощай, голубчик, извини, что покамест мало тебе пишу. Хочу разом написать множество писем и потому пишу всем понемножку. В твоей записной книжечке я нашёл стихи. Отчего ты мне не прочёл их в Петербурге?
[[Aleksandr Ostrovsky]]'s drama was written in 1859, and tells the story of Katerina, an unhappily married woman who struggles to hide her feelings for another man. While her husband is away, Katerina yields to her passion. When a great storm then breaks, she is terror-stricken and confesses her guilt, before throwing herself into the torrential waters of the River Volga.  


A rough programme of the overture was jotted down by Tchaikovsky on the manuscript score of his orchestration of the Adagio and Allegro brillante from [[Robert Schumann]]'s ''[[Symphonic Studies (Schumann)|Symphonic Studies]]''. Its contents were as follows:
Целую тебя крепко. Пиши по чаще.
{{right|Твой П. Чайковский}}


{{quote|''Introduction'': adagio (Katerina's childhood and her life before her marriage); (allegro) intimations of the storm; her yearning for true happiness and love (allegro appassionato); her spiritual struggle; sudden change to evening on the bank of the Volga; again a struggle, but tinged with a certain feverish happiness; a foreshadowing of the storm (repetition of the motif after the Adagio and its further development), the storm; a climax of desperate struggle and death.}}
|Translated text={{right|''[[Paris]]''<br/>3/15 January 1883}}
{{centre|Dear, good [[Nikolay Konradi|Nikolasha]]!}}
I don't think that this letter will catch [[Modest]] now, and so I'm writing directly to you. I arrived in [[Paris]] yesterday. I spent three days in [[Berlin]], on the last of which I was fed up and miserable, which I put down to the disgusting weather, namely a cold, frosty wind without any snow. But approaching [[Paris]], I found to my surprise that the weather here was quite spring-like, such that on my arrival yesterday evening, I strolled along the boulevard in a raincoat.  


==Composition==
The ''Hôtel Richepanse'' (you need to write Richepanse, rather than ''Richepance'') turned out to be very clean and nice, but the room I received was uncomfortably, very noisy, and gloomy. They have promised to change it. Today I'll spend the whole day settling in, and tomorrow I'll start to do some work.  
In the spring of 1864, [[Anton Rubinstein]], Tchaikovsky's composition tutor at the [[Saint Petersburg]] Conservatory, set his students a summer assignment to compose a large-scale orchestral piece—an overture to an opera. Tchaikovsky, who was already at that time thinking of composing [[The Storm (projected opera)|an opera]] to [[Aleksandr Ostrovsky]]'s drama ''The Storm'', chose this as his subject <ref name="note1"/>.


In a letter to [[Aleksandra Davydova]] from [[Trostinets]] of 28 July/9 August 1864, Tchaikovsky wrote: "Tell [[Vera Butakova|Vera Vasilyevna]] that my ''Storm'' is rumbling along, and she may run the risk of hearing it at the Russian Musical Society" <ref name="note2"/>.
I'm looking forward to seeing [[Modest]]. I feel that while he's on his own, he'll be missing you terribly, and it only become easier for him when we're together again.  


On finishing the overture, Tchaikovsky sent the score to [[Herman Laroche]], who later recalled:
So farewell, golubchik, and I'm sorry to write you so little now. I have so many letters to write at once, so I'm writing just a little to everyone. I found the poems in your notebook. Why didn't you read them to me in [[Petersburg]]?


{{quote|In the summer of 1864, Pyotr Ilyich had to write a large overture, for which he chose himself the programme of [[Ostrovsky]]'s ''The Storm''. The orchestra he employed was ‘heretical', with bass tuba, English Horn. harp, tremolo and divided strings, bass drum and cymbals. He was probably optimistic in nurturing the hope that the requirements of the programme would exempt him from any punishment for failing to follow the usual guidelines. In any event, by the start of term, or perhaps somewhat earlier, he finished his work. I cannot recall the reason now, but he asked me to stand in for him, and sent me the score by post with a message to show it to [[Anton Grigoryevich]]. A few days later, [[Anton Rubinstein|Rubinstein]] told me to come and listen to his judgement. Never in my life did I receive such a dressing-down for my misdemeanours as on that day (as I recall, it was a beautiful Sunday morning), listening on behalf of someone else <ref name="note3"/>.}}
I kiss you hard. Write often.
 
{{right|Yours P. Tchaikovsky}}
==Performances==
}}
''The Storm'' was never performed during the composer's lifetime. It was heard for the first time only on 24 February/7 March 1896 at [[Mitrofan Belyayev]]'s third Russian Symphony Concert in [[Saint Petersburg]], conducted by [[Aleksandr Glazunov]].
 
In [[London]], the work was premiered on 8/20 February 1897 at a concert in the Queen's Hall, conducted by Henry Wood.
 
==Publication==
Under the editorship of [[Sergey Taneyev]] and [[Aleksandr Glazunov]], the overture was published posthumously in [[Leipzig]] by [[Mitrofan Belyayev]] in 1896 as "[[Opus]] 76", in the form of the full score (plate no. 1315), orchestral parts (1316), and an arrangement for piano duet by [[Nikolay Sokolov]] (1317) <ref name="note4"/>.
 
The score was published in 1952 in volume 21 of Tchaikovsky's ''[[Complete Collected Works]]'', edited by Pavel Lamm <ref name="note5"/>.
 
==Autographs==
The autograph score is now preserved in the {{RUS-KLč}} at [[Klin]] (a{{sup|1}}, No. 218)
 
==Recordings==
{{reclink}}
 
==Related Works==
: ''See also: [[The Storm (projected opera)]]''.
 
An extended version of the overture's introduction (bars 1–45) was re-used in the opening of the [[Overture in C minor]] (1865-66), and also in the opera ''[[The Voyevoda (opera)|The Voyevoda]]'' (1867-68). Part of this introduction (bars 23–43) includes the folk tune 'The Young Maiden Walked So Far' (Исходила младенька), which Tchaikovsky later arranged as No. 1 of [[Fifty Russian Folksongs]] (1868).
 
A modified version of Katerina's theme (bars 128–134) was re-used in the second movement of the [[Symphony No. 1]] (1866-68).
 
Bars 272 to 292 from the overture's central section were reworked in Bastryukov's Aria (Act I, No. 4) from the opera ''[[The Voyevoda (opera)|The Voyevoda]]'' (1867-68).
 
==External Links==
* {{imslpscore|The_Storm,_Op.76_(Tchaikovsky,_Pyotr)|The Storm}}
 
==Notes and References==
<references>
<ref name="note1">{{bib|1900/35|Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского ; том 1}} (1900), pp. 191–192.</ref>
<ref name="note2">[[Letter 68]] to [[Aleksandra Davydova]], 28 July/9 August 1864.</ref>
<ref name="note3">{{bib|1922/41|Собрание музвкально-критических статей ; том 2, часть 1}} (1922), p. 47.</ref>
<ref name="note4">See letter from [[Mitrofan Belyayev]] to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]], 1/13 April 1896 — {{RUS-KLč}} at [[Klin]] (ref. б<sup>10</sup>, No. 396).</ref>
<ref name="note5">Beliaieff's edition contains numerous differences from the autograph score, many (but not all) of which were noted in volume 21 of the complete works.</ref>
</references>
[[Category:Orchestral Music|Storm]]

Latest revision as of 10:33, 16 January 2024

Date 3/15 January 1883
Addressed to Nikolay Konradi
Where written Paris
Language Russian
Autograph Location unknown
Publication П. И. Чайковский. С. И. Танеев. Письма (1951), p. 262–263
П. И. Чайковский. Полное собрание сочинений, том XII (1970), p. 13.
Notes Manuscript copy in Klin (Russia): Tchaikovsky State Memorial Musical Museum-Reserve

Text and Translation

Based on a handwritten copy in the Tchaikovsky State Memorial Musical Museum-Reserve at Klin, which may contain differences in formatting and content from Tchaikovsky's original letter.

Russian text
(original) 		English translation
By Brett Langston
Париж
3/15 января 1883 г[ода]

Милый, дорогой Николаша!

Думаю, что это письмо уже не застанет Модеста, а потому пишу прямо тебе. Вчера приехал я в Париж. В Берлине я провёл 3 дня, из коих последний проскучал и протосковал, должно быть от того, что погода была отвратительная, а именно холодный, морозный ветер без снега. Зато подъезжая к Парижу, к удивлению — нашёл здесь совсем весеннюю погоду, так что вчера вечером, по приезде, гулял по бульвару водном сюртуке.

Hôtel Richepanse (нужно писать Richepanse, а не Richepance) оказался очень чистенький и миленький, но комнату я получил пока мест неудобную, очень шумную и тёмную. Обещают переменить. Сегодня буду целый день устраиваться, а начиная с завтра примусь за занятия.

С нетерпением ожидаю Модеста. Я чувствую, что покамест он будет один, его будет мучить тоска об тебе, и только, когда мы соединимся, ему будет легче.

Засим прощай, голубчик, извини, что покамест мало тебе пишу. Хочу разом написать множество писем и потому пишу всем понемножку. В твоей записной книжечке я нашёл стихи. Отчего ты мне не прочёл их в Петербурге?

Целую тебя крепко. Пиши по чаще.

Твой П. Чайковский
Paris
3/15 January 1883

Dear, good Nikolasha!

I don't think that this letter will catch Modest now, and so I'm writing directly to you. I arrived in Paris yesterday. I spent three days in Berlin, on the last of which I was fed up and miserable, which I put down to the disgusting weather, namely a cold, frosty wind without any snow. But approaching Paris, I found to my surprise that the weather here was quite spring-like, such that on my arrival yesterday evening, I strolled along the boulevard in a raincoat.

The Hôtel Richepanse (you need to write Richepanse, rather than Richepance) turned out to be very clean and nice, but the room I received was uncomfortably, very noisy, and gloomy. They have promised to change it. Today I'll spend the whole day settling in, and tomorrow I'll start to do some work.

I'm looking forward to seeing Modest. I feel that while he's on his own, he'll be missing you terribly, and it only become easier for him when we're together again.

So farewell, golubchik, and I'm sorry to write you so little now. I have so many letters to write at once, so I'm writing just a little to everyone. I found the poems in your notebook. Why didn't you read them to me in Petersburg?

I kiss you hard. Write often.

Yours P. Tchaikovsky

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