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| Tchaikovsky's '''''Violin Concerto''''' in D major, [[Opus]] 35 ([[TH]] 59 ; [[ČW]] 54) was written in March 1878.
| | <includeonly>Русская опера</includeonly><noinclude> {{bibitem |id=1887/29 |Contributors=Zinovyev, P. A. (author) |Title=Русская опера |In=Петербургская газета [Saint Petersburg] |Edition=21 October 1887 {{OS}} |Imprint=1887 |Format=Article |Language=Russian |Notes=The first production of the opera [[The Enchantress]] on 20 October/1 November 1887 in Saint Petersburg. The article is signed "П. З." (P. Z.) }} [[Category:Bibliography (1887)]] {{DEFAULTSORT:Bibliography (1887/029)}}</noinclude> |
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| ==Instrumentation==
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| The concerto is scored for solo violin and an orchestra consisting of 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in A, B-flat), 2 bassoons + 4 horns (in F), 2 trumpets (in D) + 2 timpani + violins I, violins II, violas, cellos, and double basses.
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| ==Movements and Duration==
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| There are three movements:
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| <ol style="list-style-type: upper-roman;">
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| <li>Allegro moderato—Moderato assai (D major, 339 bars)</li> | |
| <li>''Canzonetta''. Andante (G minor, 119 bars)</li> | |
| <li>''Finale''. Allegro vivacissimo (D major, 639 bars)</li>
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| </ol>
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| The concerto lasts approximately 30 to 35 minutes in performance.
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| ==Composition== | |
| Early in 1878, Tchaikovsky was staying at [[Clarens]] as a guest, with his former student, the violinist [[Iosif Kotek]]. Together with [[Kotek]], he played through a large selection from the violin repertoire, and in particular the French composer [[Lalo]]'s ''Symphonie espagnole'' which it seems inspired him to write a violin concerto <ref name="note1"/>.
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| On 5/17 March Tchaikovsky wrote to [[Nadezhda von Meck]]: "...this morning I was overcome by that unfathomable burning inspiration I told you about... Besides small pieces, I am writing a sonata for piano and a violin concerto" <ref name="note2"/>. He set aside his [[Grand Sonata]], on which he had been working at the time, and began composition of the Violin Concerto <ref name="note3"/>. In a letter to [[Nadezhda von Meck]] of 7/19 March, Tchaikovsky noted that for the first time in the life he had begun a new composition before completing the previous one. "On this occasion I could not overcome my desire to make rough sketches for a concerto, and afterwards became so carried away that I abandoned work on the [[Grand Sonata|sonata]]" <ref name="note4"/>. In all his letters from this period, the composer remarks that he is carried away with work on the concerto, which, notwithstanding its novelty of form, came very easily to him. On 10/22 March, i.e. after five days, Tchaikovsky finished the first movement of the concerto; on 11/23 March he began the second movement (Andante), and on 14/26 March he told [[Nadezhda von Meck]] that he had "reached the finale" and the concerto would soon be ready <ref name="note5"/>. On 16/28 March 1878, Tchaikovsky wrote: "Today I finished the ''concerto''. It still has to be copied out and played through a few times... and then orchestrated. I shall start the copying out and add the finishing touches" <ref name="note6"/>. The following day he began to make the fair copy <ref name="note7"/>.
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| After playing through the concerto with [[Iosif Kotek]], Tchaikovsky decided to write a new Andante, though the first movement and finale were considered satisfactory <ref name="note8"/>. On 24 March/5 April, Tchaikovsky wrote the new Andante, which in his words was: "better suited to the concerto's other two movements". He decided to add two other violin pieces to the original Andante (which was restyled ''Méditation'') to form the cycle ''[[Souvenir d'un lieu cher]]'', Op. 42) <ref name="note9"/>.
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| Therefore, by 24 March/5 April all the sketches were ready, including the new Andante, and the piano arrangement of the first movement. In a letter of 24 March/5 April, Tchaikovsky told [[Nadezhda von Meck]]: "Today my concerto might be called completely finished. Tomorrow I shall launch myself into the full score, and aim to finish this while the work is still fresh in my thoughts". On 30 March/11 April the full score was ready <ref name="note10"/>.
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| ==Arrangements== | |
| Tchaikovsky also arranged the concerto for violin with piano accompaniment, between 17/29 March <ref name="note11"/> and 24 March 1878 <ref name="note12"/>.
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| ==Performances==
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| The first performance of the concerto was scheduled for 10/22 March 1879 at a concert of the Russian Musical Society in [[Saint Petersburg]], to be performed by [[Leopold Auer]] <ref name="note13"/>. But [[Auer]] and [[Karl Davydov]] declared that it was too difficult, and the performance of the concerto did not take place. Attempts by [[Iosif Kotek]] and Emile Sauret to play the concerto in [[Moscow]] were also unsuccessful. The concerto gained a reputation as unplayable, and no-one would perform it <ref name="note14"/>. The concerto was reportedly performed for the first time in 1879 (in the version for violin with piano) in [[New York]] by the violinist [[Leopold Damrosch]] <ref name="note15"/>.
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| In Europe, and later in Russia, the foremost performer and advocate of the concerto was [[Adolph Brodsky]]. Enraptured by the concerto, [[Brodsky]] introduced it in [[Vienna]], at a special ''Novitätenprobe'' <ref name="note16"/>, conducted by Hans Richter. After the preliminary hearing, it was approved for performance at the third Philharmonic Society subscription concert on 22 November/4 December 1881. Its success was sensational, despite an unfavourable reception by parts of the audience. The critics behaved with hostility to the work, particularly the well-known critic Eduard Hanslick. Nevertheless, the concerto attracted considerable attention, and [[Brodsky]] received numerous offers for concerts in the following season <ref name="note17"/>.
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| Although [[Brodsky]]'s 1881 performance in [[Vienna]] was for many years presumed to have been the concerto's world premiere, evidence has recently been found to show that it was performed in [[Hannover]] on 1/13 March 1880, by the concertmaster of the city's Hopfkapelle, Georg Hänflein, conducted by Ernst Frank <ref name="note22"/>. It is unclear whether Tchaikovsky was aware of this performance, which seems to have attracted little attention outside [[Hannover]] itself.
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| In Russia, the Violin Concerto was performed for the first time on 8/20 August 1882 at the sixth concert in the Art and Industrial Exhibition in Moscow, by [[Adolph Brodsky]], conducted by [[Ippolit Altani]], where it had exceptional success <ref name="note18"/>. Other notable performances during the composer's lifetime were:
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| * [[London]], St. James's Hall, 26 April/8 May 1882, [[Adolph Brodsky]] (violin), conducted by Hans Richter
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| * Karlsruhe, 1st subscription concert, 16/28 October 1882, [[Adolph Brodsky]] (violin)
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| * [[Moscow]], 1st RMS symphony concert, 30 October/11 November 1882, [[Iosif Kotek]] (violin), conducted by [[Max Erdmannsdörfer]]
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| * [[Berlin]], 2nd Varesi concert, 15/27 November 1882, [[Iosif Kotek]] (violin)
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| * [[Saint Petersburg]], 10th RMS symphony concert, 31 January/12 February 1887, [[Adolph Brodsky]] (violin), conducted by [[Anton Rubinstein]]
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| * [[Prague]], Rudolfinum, 7/19 February 1888, Karel Halíř (violin), conducted by Tchaikovsky
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| * [[Paris]], 17th Châtelet concert, 28 February/11 March 1888, [[Martin Pierre Marsick]] (violin), conducted by Tchaikovsky
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| * [[New York]], Chickering Hall, 25 March/6 April 1888, Maude Powell (violin), conducted by Anton Seidl
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| * [[Moscow]], 2nd RMS symphony concert, 28 October/9 November 1889, [[Adolph Brodsky]] (violin), conducted by Tchaikovsky
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| * [[Warsaw]], 2/14 January 1892, [[Stanisław Barcewicz]] (violin), conducted by Tchaikovsky.
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| * [[Saint Petersburg]], 10th RMS symphony concert, 30 January/11 February 1893, Leopold Auer (violin), conducted by Eduard Krushevsky
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| * [[Kharkov]], RMS symphony concert, 14/26 March 1893, Konstantin Gorsky (violin), conducted by Tchaikovsky (1st movement only)
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| * Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, special subscription concert, 14/26 October 1893, Felix Berber (violin), conducted by [[Willem Kes]]
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| ==Publication==
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| The concerto was published by [[Pyotr Jurgenson]] in [[Moscow]]: | |
| * Arrangement for violin with piano (plate 3339) — October 1879
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| * Orchestral parts (plate 3337) — August 1879
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| * Full score (plate 3338) — June 1888 <ref name="note19"/>.
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| In Tchaikovsky's ''[[Complete Collected Works]]'' the full score of the Concerto was published in volume 30A, edited by Valentina Rachkovskaya (1949), and the violin-piano arrangement in volume 55A, edited by Ivan Shishov and Nikolay Shemanin (1946).
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| Series 3, Volumes 5 and 6 of the ''[[Academic Edition of the Complete Works]]'', edited by Polina Vaidman and Ada Aynbinder (2019), include the full scores and violin-piano arrangements of the concerto.
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| : ''See also: [[{{PAGENAME}}: Scores]]''
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| ==Autographs==
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| Tchaikovsky's manuscript full score of the concerto is now preserved in the {{RUS-Mcm}} in [[Moscow]] {{TOW2|koncert-dlya-skripki-s-orkestrom|(ф. 88, No. 95)}}. The whereabouts of the manuscript of his arrangement for violin and piano are unknown.
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| ==Recordings==
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| {{reclink}}
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| ==Dedication==
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| After some vacillation over who the dedicatee of the concerto should be— [[Iosif Kotek]] or [[Leopold Auer]]—Tchaikovsky initially decided upon the latter <ref name="note20"/>. However, as a result of [[Auer]]'s persistent refusal to play the concerto, the composer withdrew the original dedication and replaced it with one to [[Adolph Brodsky]] <ref name="note21"/>, who had been impressed by the young violinist's enthusiasm for the work.
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| ==External Links==
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| * {{imslpscore|Violin_Concerto,_Op.35_(Tchaikovsky,_Pyotr)|Violin Concerto}}
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| ==Notes and References==
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| <references>
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| <ref name="note1">See [[Letter 777]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 3/15 March 1878, and [[Letter 769]] to [[Anatoly Tchaikovsky]], 25 February/9 March 1878.</ref>
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| <ref name="note2">[[Letter 778]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 5/17 March 1878.</ref>
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| <ref name="note3">See [[Letter 776]], 3/15 March 1879, and [[Letter 779]], 6/18 March 1878, to [[Anatoly Tchaikovsky]].</ref>
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| <ref name="note4">[[Letter 780]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 7/19 March 1878.</ref>
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| <ref name="note5">See [[Letter 782]], 10/22 March 1878, and [[Letter 787]], 14/26 March 1878, to [[Nadezhda von Meck]]; also [[Letter 783]] to [[Anatoly Tchaikovsky]], 11/22 March 1878.</ref>
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| <ref name="note6">See [[Letter 790]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 16/28 March 1878.</ref>
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| <ref name="note7">See [[Letter 791]] to [[Anatoly Tchaikovsky]], 16/28–18/30 March 1878.</ref>
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| <ref name="note8">See Letters [[Letter 795|795]] and [[Letter 797|797]] to [[Anatoly Tchaikovsky]], 20 March/1 April and 23 March/4 April 1878.</ref>
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| <ref name="note9">See [[Letter 798]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 24 March/5 April 1878.</ref>
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| <ref name="note10">See [[Letter 803]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 30 March/11 April 1878, and the author's date on the manuscript full score.</ref>
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| <ref name="note11">See [[Letter 790]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 16/28 March 1878, and [[Letter 791]] to [[Anatoly Tchaikovsky]], 16/28–18/30 March 1878.</ref>
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| <ref name="note12">See [[Letter 798]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 24 March/5 April 1878.</ref>
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| <ref name="note13">See [[Letter 1132]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 6/18 March 1879.</ref>
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| <ref name="note14">See [[Letter 1916]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 22 December 1881/3 January 1882–23 December 1881/4 January 1882.</ref>
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| <ref name="note15">See letter from [[Nadezhda von Meck]] to Tchaikovsky, 27 December 1881/8 January 1882, and "Ignotus" [i.e. [[Sergey Flerov]]], {{bib|1881/9|Музыкальная хроника}} (1881). The exact date of this supposed performance is unknown, and it has yet to be corroborated by contemporary accounts.</ref>
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| <ref name="note16">A preliminary hearing for new works.</ref>
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| <ref name="note17">See letters from [[Adolph Brodsky]] to Tchaikovsky, January–June 1882 — [[Klin]] House-Museum Archive.</ref>
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| <ref name="note18">See [[Letter 2028]] to [[Pyotr Jurgenson]], 24 May/5 June 1882; [[Letter 2071]] to [[Sergey Taneyev]], 28 July/9 August 1882; letters [[Letter 2073|2073]] and [[Letter 2076|2076]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 3/15 and 11/23 August 1882.</ref>
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| <ref name="note19">See [[Letter 828]] to [[Pyotr Jurgenson]], 15/27 May 1878, and [[Pyotr Jurgenson]]'s letter to Tchaikovsky, 15/27 June 1879 — [[Klin]] House-Museum Archive.</ref>
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| <ref name="note20">See [[Letter 865]], 1/13 July 1878, and [[Letter 870]], 12/14 July 1878, to [[Pyotr Jurgenson]].</ref>
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| <ref name="note21">See [[Letter 1904]] to [[Lev Kupernik]], 1/13 December 1881; [[Letter 1914]] to [[Pyotr Jurgenson]], 15/27 December 1881; [[Letter 1916]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 22 December 1881/3 January 1882–23 December 1881/4 January 1882; and [[Letter 1924]] to [[Adolph Brodsky]], 1/13 January 1882.</ref>
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| <ref name="note22">See {{bibx|2022/2|Tchaikovsky Research Bulletin No. 4}} (2022), and ''Signale für die Musikalische Welt'' (1880), No. 26, p. 409.</ref>
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| </references> | |
| [[Category:Concertos]]
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