View source for The Voyevoda (symphonic ballad)

'''''The Voyevoda''''' (Воевода) is a symphonic ballad in A minor ([[TH]] 54 ; [[ČW]] 51) <ref name="note1"/>, written by Tchaikovsky in September and October 1890, but not orchestrated until September 1891. After the first performance the composer destroyed the full score, but after his death it was reconstructed from the surviving orchestral parts and published as "[[Op.]] 78".

==Instrumentation==
''The Voyevoda'' is scored for a large orchestra comprising 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets (in A), bass clarinet (in B-flat), 2 bassoons + 4 horns (in F), 2 trumpets (in B-flat), 3 trombones, tuba + 3 timpani, military drum + celesta + harp, violins I, violins II, violas, cellos, and double basses.

==Duration==
There is one movement: Allegro vivacissimo—Moderato a tempo (A minor, 510 bars), lasting around 12 to 15 minutes in performance.

==Subject==
The Ballad is based on [[Aleksandr Pushkin]]'s Russian translation of the Polish poem ''Czaty: Ballada ukraińska'' (The Ambush: A Ukrainian Ballad) by [[Adam Mickiewicz]], which was first published in the collection ''Poezye Adama Mickiewicza'' (1829). The work is unconnected to Tchaikovsky's first opera, also called ''[[The Voyevoda (opera)|The Voyevoda]]'' (1867-68), or the [[The Voyevoda (melodrama)|melodrama]] he wrote for the stage play of the same name in 1886.

==Composition==
There is very little surviving evidence concerning the origins of ''The Voyevoda''. From Tchaikovsky's letters to [[Vladimir Davydov]], it would appear that the two men had talked to each other about this subject. Tchaikovsky wrote: "I have composed that ballad for orchestra, on the subject of which you disapprove... I assure you that it was a good idea to write this work" <ref name="note2"/>. It seems that the ballad was begun in [[Tiflis]] in late September/early October 1890. Tchaikovsky wrote to [[Pyotr Jurgenson]] on 28 September/10 October 1890: "I am composing a symphonic poem" <ref name="note3"/>. From the aforementioned letter from the composer to [[Vladimir Davydov]], it follows that by 4/16 October the ballad was prepared in rough, and in the same letter Tchaikovsky stated that he would spend the next few weeks on its instrumentation. But his intention was not then carried out. In a letter to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]] of 10/22 October 1890, the composer wrote: "The ballad is finished, but I'm slaving over the orchestration and getting nowhere. It's so awkward" <ref name="note4"/>. Tchaikovsky's circumstances forced him to put off completing the ballad for almost a whole year. The productions of the opera ''[[The Queen of Spades]]'' in [[Saint Petersburg]] and [[Kiev]], a commission from [[Lucien Guitry]] for music to ''[[Hamlet (incidental music)|Hamlet]]'', composing the opera ''[[Iolanta]]'' and the ballet ''[[The Nutcracker]]'' for the next winter season, and a concert tour of America—all of these postponed the orchestration of the ballad.

In a number of letters to relatives and friends dating from June 1891, Tchaikovsky wrote of his intention to begin scoring the ballad <ref name="note5"/>, and asked [[Pyotr Jurgenson]] to obtain a new orchestral instrument, the ''Celesta Mustel'': "It is essential for ''The Voyevoda''..." <ref name="note6"/>.

In a letter of 22 August/3 September to [[Pyotr Jurgenson]], Tchaikovsky reported: "I shall now orchestrate the fantasia ''Voyevoda'' (on the subject of [[Pushkin]]'s ballad), and will play it for the first time in [[Saint Petersburg]] at a concert of the Musical Society. I have been invited to conduct one of their concerts there" <ref name="note7"/>.

Tchaikovsky took up the orchestration of ''The Voyevoda'' as soon as he had finished the rough sketches of ''[[Iolanta]]'': "Yesterday I completely finished the opera. Tomorrow I shall set to work on the instrumentation of ''The Voyevoda''", he wrote to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]] on 5/17 September 1891 <ref name="note8"/>.

The scoring of the ballad was completed around 22 September/4 October 1891, as indicated by a letter to [[Anna Merkling]] of the latter date, in which the composer reported that he had finished his new symphonic work <ref name="note9"/>. On the same day he wrote to [[Anatoly Tchaikovsky]]: "I've finished my symphonic ballad, ''The Voyevoda'', and I'm very pleased with it" <ref name="note10"/>.

==Arrangements==
Tchaikovsky transcribed the central section of the ballad as an independent piece for solo piano under the title ''[[Aveu passionné]]''.

==Performances==
The symphonic ballad ''The Voyevoda'' was performed for the first time in [[Moscow]] on 6/18 November 1891, at a concert organised by [[Aleksandr Ziloti]], conducted by the composer.

Other notable early performances included:
* [[New York]], [Carnegie] Music Hall, Symphonic Society concert, 14/26 November 1897, conducted by [[Walter Damrosch]]
* [[Saint Petersburg]], Russian symphony concert, March 1897
* [[London]], Queen's Hall, 15/28 September 1905, conducted by Henry Wood.

==Autographs==
After hearing his new work played by the orchestra, Tchaikovsky became extremely dissatisfied, and the next day he destroyed it. He wrote of this to [[Vladimir Nápravník]] in a letter of 11/23 November 1891: "My ballad ''The Voyevoda'' turned out to be so wretched, that the other day after the concert I tore it to shreds. It exists no more" <ref name="note11"/>. [[Modest Tchaikovsky]] recalled the same <ref name="note12"/>. However, three autograph fragments from the full score have survived, and are now preserved in the [[Klin]] House-Museum Archive (a{{sup|1}}, Nos. 64-66).

==Publication==
The orchestral parts were preserved by [[Aleksandr Ziloti]], who, seeing the composer's agitated state after the concert, ordered that the parts should be collected, and took them to his apartment, and he refused Tchaikovsky's request that they should be destroyed, since he and [[Sergey Taneyev]] considered that the ballad ''The Voyevoda'', although weaker than ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'' and ''[[Francesca da Rimini]]'', was "for all its sins, full of interesting things" <ref name="note13"/>. 

After Tchaikovsky's death, the full score of the ballad was reconstructed from the orchestral parts and published by [[Mitrofan Belyayev]] in [[Leipzig]] in 1897 as "[[Op.]] 78". An arrangement of the ballad for piano duet by [[Nikolay Sokolov]] was issued at the same time <ref name="note14"/>.

Several letters between [[Mitrofan Belyayev]] and [[Modest Tchaikovsky]] survive concerning the question of publishing the composer's works posthumously, a number of which relate to ''The Voyevoda'' <ref name="note15"/>.

''The Voyevoda'' was published in volume 26 of Tchaikovsky's ''[[Complete Collected Works]]'' (1961), edited by Irina Iordan.

==Critical Reception==
After the composer's death, [[Sergey Taneyev]], in one of his letters to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]] in 1901, recalled how he had given his views on ''The Voyevoda'' to Tchaikovsky soon after the first rehearsal: 
{{quote|My first impression of ''The Voyevoda''", he wrote, "was that the main part of the piece—the central love episode—sounded merely preparatory. Moreover, the musical worth of this central section could not bear comparison with similar episodes in earlier works by Pyotr Ilyich—''[[Romeo]]'', ''[[The Tempest]]'' and ''[[Francesca]]''. It seemed to me that the reception this work received at that time was mistaken. The words of [[Pushkin]]'s ballad might be sung to this melody, thus:}}
<div align="center">[[File:TH054a.jpg|400px]]</div>

{{quote|What this suggests, is that this was not composed as a work for orchestra, but as a romance. Performed without words and on orchestral instruments it produces a somewhat insipid impression, and its impact is greatly diminished <ref name="note16"/>.}}

It is possible that [[Taneyev]]'s views had an indirect influence on Tchaikovsky's decision to destroy ''The Voyevoda''.

==Recordings==
{{reclink}}

==Related Works==
: ''See: [[Aveu passionné]]''.

==External Links==
* {{imslpscore|The_Voyevoda_(symphonic_ballad),_Op.78_(Tchaikovsky,_Pyotr)|The Voyevoda}}

==Notes and References==
<references>
<ref name="note1">Entitled 'The Voevoda' in [[TH]].</ref>
<ref name="note2">[[Letter 4228]] to [[Vladimir Davydov]], 5/17 October 1890.</ref> 
<ref name="note3">[[Letter 4224]] to [[Pyotr Jurgenson]], 28 September/10 October 1890.</ref> 
<ref name="note4">[[Letter 4231]] to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]], 10/22 October 1890.</ref> 
<ref name="note5">See [[Letter 4394]] to [[Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov]], [[Letter 4397]] to [[Pyotr Jurgenson]], 3/15 June 1891, and also [[Letter 4429]] to [[Sergey Taneyev]], 27 June/9 July 1891.</ref> 
<ref name="note6">[[Letter 4397]] to [[Pyotr Jurgenson]], 3/15 June 1891.</ref> 
<ref name="note7">[[Letter 4459]] to [[Pyotr Jurgenson]], 22 August/3 September 1891.</ref> 
<ref name="note8">[[Letter 4469]] to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]], 5/17 September 1891.</ref> 
<ref name="note9">[[Letter 4478]] to [[Anna Merkling]], 22 September/4 October 1891.</ref> 
<ref name="note10">[[Letter 4480]] to [[Anatoly Tchaikovsky]], 22 September/4 October 1891.</ref> 
<ref name="note11">[[Letter 4545]] to [[Vladimir Nápravník]], 11/23 November 1891.</ref> 
<ref name="note12">{{bib|1902/25|Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского ; том 3}} (1902), pp. 514–516.</ref> 
<ref name="note13">See letter from [[Aleksandr Ziloti]] to the composer, 21 November/3 December 1891 — [[Klin]] House-Museum Archive.</ref> 
<ref name="note14">See letter from [[Mitrofan Belyayev]] to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]], 1/13 April 1896 — [[Klin]] House-Museum Archive.</ref> 
<ref name="note15">See letters from [[Mitrofan Belyayev]] to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]] of 18/30 March, 1/13 April, 13/25 April 1896 and 31 December 1896/12 January 1897 — [[Klin]] House-Museum Archive.</ref>
<ref name="note16">Undated letter from [[Sergey Taneyev]] to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]], 1901 — [[Klin]] House-Museum Archive. The words «Не искал он, не страдал он» {{=}} "He did not seek, he did not yearn".</ref> 
</references>
[[Category:Orchestral Music]]