Idomeneo (Mozart)

Tchaikovsky Research

In 1889, Tchaikovsky conducted the Chaconne (No. 1) and Gavotte (No. 4) from the opera Idomeneo (Идоменео) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, making some editorial changes in the process (ČW 421).

In his printed edition of the score [1], Tchaikovsky marked all the numbers with rehearsal letters, indicated the bowing, changed several articulation marks, changed and added some dynamic markings, and crossed out the last four bars after the repeat at the end of the Gavotte [2].

Tchaikovsky conducted the two dances, using his edited version of the score, on 28 October/9 November 1889 in Moscow, at the second symphony concert of the Russian Musical Society. To date his alterations have not been published.

Notes and References

  1. Balletmusik zur Oper Idomeneo, KV. 367. (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts Werke, Serie V, No. 14). Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1881. This was one of the complete set of Mozart's works presented to Tchaikovsky by Pyotr Jurgenson in December 1888.
  2. As described in ČW, p. 751.