Hamlet (overture-fantasia)

Tchaikovsky Research
Revision as of 12:19, 12 July 2022 by Brett (talk | contribs) (1 revision imported)

Hamlet (Гамлет), is an overture-fantasia in F minor after Shakespeare's tragedy, Op. 67 (TH 53 ; ČW 50), written and orchestrated by Tchaikovsky between June and October 1888. An abridged version of the overture-fantasia was later used in Tchaikovsky's incidental music to the play.

Instrumentation

The overture-fantasia is scored for a symphony orchestra comprising 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets (in B-flat), 2 bassoons + 4 horns (in F), 2 cornets (in B-flat), 2 trumpets (in B-flat), 3 trombones, tuba + 3 timpani, military drum, cymbals, bass drum, tam tam + violins I, violins II, violas, cellos, and double basses.

Duration

There is one movement: Lento lugubre—Allegro vivace (F minor, 435 bars), lasting around 15 to 20 minutes in performance.

Subject

The work is based on the play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (1599–1601) by William Shakespeare (1564–1616).

As far back as July 1876, Modest Tchaikovsky in one of his letters suggested to the composer some subjects for symphonic poems, including Hamlet. [[Modest] ]wrote: "Wouldn't you like to do Hamlet? I think it could be organised straightforwardly into three sections:

  1. Elsinore and Hamlet before the appearance of the ghost.
  2. Polonius (scherzando) and Ophelia (adagio).
  3. Hamlet after the appearance of the ghost. His death and Fortinbras" [1].

Replying on 7/19 July 1876, Tchaikovsky thanked his brother for the programmes and wrote: "Out of them all Hamlet is very much to my taste, but it's devilishly difficult"[2].

Despite his interest in the subject, Tchaikovsky did not start composition until 1888, but his thoughts repeatedly returned to the project during the intervening period, and in 1885 he noted down a short musical sketch, with a quotation from Hamlet:

TH053a.jpg

In his diary entry for 9/21 September 1887, Tchaikovsky recorded: "Unsuccessful 2nd theme for Hamlet" [3]. Presumably this note referred to musical sketches in his Notebook No. 4, which is dated on the first page "12 Sept" [O.S.]. Over one of these sketches (pages 42–43) is written "Hamlet", although, this sketch was not used in the overture. Another sketch on page 3 certainly appears to be a preliminary variant of the first theme of the overture's second subject.

Composition

A suggestion from the French actor Lucien Guitry served as the catalyst for the composition of the overture-fantasia Hamlet. Grand Duchess Mariya Pavlovna (1854–1920) was planning to organize a gala charity production at the Saint Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre in late March/early April 1888, and she wanted this to include a staging of Act III from Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet, with Guitry in the title role and with an overture by Tchaikovsky [4]. On 25 January/6 February 1888, Guitry wrote to the composer, who was then on a concert tour abroad: "I have taken upon myself the task of acting as the Grand Duchess's spokesman and to ask you whether you might not be able, if push comes to shove, to pull off not an overture, but an entr'acte for Hamlet's pantomime scene—in short, an entr'acte between the Theatre Scene (the allegorical murder) and the great portrait scene in the Queen's bedchamber, where Hamlet kills Polonius and the Ghost appears? I am writing all this to you against my better instincts, as I am aware of the magnitude of what I am asking. To write and to compose while hopping from one train to another is extremely difficult. However, as I said: I am acting here merely as a spokesman. It would have to be performed in a gala production at the Mariinsky Theatre, conducted by Nápravník, in the third week of Lent, i.e. in two months' time" [5].

In a subsequent (undated) letter from the same year, Lucien Guitry told Tchaikovsky that the production had been cancelled [6]. However, Tchaikovsky was now absorbed in the subject, and had even begun to make preliminary sketches during the course of his foreign tour during the first three months of 1888. Further sketches in his Notebook No. 4 seem to show that the overture as conceived as a work for full symphony orchestra, rather than for the smaller forces of a theatre orchestra.

The Overture does not have a literary programme, but the draft sketches contain some notes on its construction. For example, on the first page of sketches is the note: "Do something at the start which won't sound like the start of Manfred". Besides this note is another relating to the finale of the overture: "... then very harsh 6[th] chords in E-flat major and pedal for Fortinbras", and below:

Fortinbras

TH053b.jpg

Ped[al] on G, terrible crescendo and a crash to follow after Hamlet's death. TH053c.jpg

Tchaikovsky worked on the rough draft between 17/29 June and 22 June/4 July 1888, at Frolovskoye, immediately after sketching the Fifth Symphony [7]. The composer mentioned this in a letter to Nadezhda von Meck of 22 June/4 July: "All this time I have been working well; I have already prepared in rough a symphony and an overture on the tragedy Hamlet, for which I've been collecting materials for some time. Over the coming weeks I will be busy with the instrumentation of both works" [8].

In letters to his brothers Modest of 26 June/8 July 1888 [9] and Anatoly of 1/13 July 1888 [10], Tchaikovsky also refers to the completion of the Fifth Symphony and the Hamlet overture, and his intention to orchestrate them. The scoring of the overture was begun around 9/21–10/22 September, after completing work on the Overture-Fantasia by Herman Laroche [11]. The instrumentation was completed on 7/19 October 1888 (according to the date on the manuscript).

In a letter of 27 October/8 November 1888 to Nadezhda von Meck, Tchaikovsky reported: "I have finished the instrumentation of my overture to Hamlet, and made numerous corrections to the proofs of my symphony, and I am now busy with preparations for conducting them both at my concerts... I will be performing Hamlet at a musical society concert" [12].

Performances

The Overture was performed for the first time in Saint Petersburg at the third symphony concert of the Russian Musical Society on 12/24 November 1888, conducted by the composer. In Moscow the overture was not performed until 14/26 February 1893, also conducted by Tchaikovsky, in a special concert of the Russian Musical Society.

Other notable early performances were:

  • Saint Petersburg, 3rd Russian Musical Society symphony concert, 12/24 November 1888, conducted by Tchaikovsky
  • Saint Petersburg, 4th Russian symphony concert, 10/22 December 1889, conducted by Tchaikovsky
  • Brooklyn, Academy of Music, Philharmonic Society concert, 2/14 February 1891, conducted by Theodore Thomas
  • London, Queen's Hall, 22 October/3 November 1897, conducted by Charles Lamoureux.

Publication

The full score of Hamlet was issued by Pyotr Jurgenson in Moscow in July 1890, and the orchestral parts in October the same year [13]. An arrangement of the overture for piano duet was made by Henryk Pachulski, and published by Jurgenson in November 1890.

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

Autographs

Tchaikovsky's manuscript score is now preserved in the Russian National Museum of Music in Moscow (ф. 88, No. 64) [view].

Recordings

See: Discography

Dedication

Hamlet is dedicated to the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg [14].

Related Works

Tchaikovsky's incidental music for the play Hamlet employs the principal themes from the overture-fantasia, and its overture is an abridged version of the earlier work.

External Links

Notes and References

  1. Letter from Modest Tchaikovsky to the composer, early/mid July 1876 — Klin House-Museum Archive.
  2. Letter 486 to Modest Tchaikovsky, 7/19 July 1876.
  3. See Дневники П. И. Чайковского (1873-1891) (1923), p. 178.
  4. See Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского, том 3 (1902), p. 318–319.
  5. Letter from Lucien Guitry to Tchaikovsky, 25 January/6 February 1888 — Klin House-Museum Archive (original in French). This letter has been published in Чайковский и зарубежные музыканты (1970), p. 209–210, p. 108–110 (Russian translation).
  6. Undated letter from Lucien Guitry to Tchaikovsky, spring 1888 — Klin House-Museum Archive (original in French). This letter has been published in Чайковский и зарубежные музыканты (1970), p. 210–211, p. 110 (Russian translation).
  7. See Letter 3595 to Varvara Zarudnaya and Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, and Letter 3597 to Modest Tchaikovsky, both 17/29 June 1888.
  8. Letter 3600 to Nadezhda von Meck, 22 June/4 July 1888.
  9. Letter 3602 to Modest Tchaikovsky, 26 June/8 July 1888.
  10. Letter 3607 to Anatoly Tchaikovsky, 1/13 July 1888.
  11. Letter 3699 to Nadezhda von Meck, 14/26 September 1888.
  12. Letter 3711 to Nadezhda von Meck, 27 October/8 November 1888.
  13. See Letter 4163, 2/14 July 1890, and Letter 4170, 10/22 July 1890, to Pyotr Jurgenson.
  14. See Letter 3655 to Edvard Grieg, 5/17 September 1888, and Letter 4170 to Pyotr Jurgenson, 10/22 July 1890.