Le retour (Gungl)

Tchaikovsky Research

Le retour (Возвращение) was a waltz for piano (Op. 82) by the Hungarian composer Johann Gungl, which Tchaikovsky arranged for orchestra around 1864 (TH 170 ; ČW 404). Only the first few pages of the arrangement have survived.

Instrumentation

Scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in C), 2 bassoons + 2 horns (in C), 2 trumpets (in C), 3 trombones + 2 timpani, triangle + violins I, violins II, violas, cellos, and double basses.

Movements and Duration

There is one movement: Allegro (C major), of which only the first 56 bars are extant.

History

The autograph score is written in the same copybook as the second version of the chorus At Bedtime, which suggests this orchestration was made during the composer's years at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, probably in 1864. No information concerning the composition of this work has survived, and it is uncertain whether this was written as an exercise in instrumentation, or as a commissioned work.

Publication

The surviving fragment of the arrangement was published for the first time in 1970 in volume 59 of Tchaikovsky's Complete Collected Works, edited by Irina Iordan.

Autographs

Tchaikovsky's manuscript score (lacking the conclusion) is now preserved in the Tchaikovsky State Memorial Musical Museum-Reserve at Klin (a1, No. 123).

Related Works

Le Retour. Walzer für das Pianoforte (Op. 82) by Johann Gungl (1828-1883) was published in 1854 by A. Schlesinger, Berlin, and reprinted by Basile Denotkine in Saint Petersburg.