Suite No. 2 and Overture in C minor: Difference between pages

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Tchaikovsky's '''''Suite No. 2''''' in C major, [[Op.]] 53 ([[TH]] 32 ; [[ČW]] 29), subtitled '''''Suite caractéristique''''', was written and orchestrated between June and October 1883.
Tchaikovsky's student '''''Overture''''' in C minor (TH 38 ; ČW 36) was composed during the summer of 1865 at [[Kamenka]], and orchestrated in January 1866 in [[Moscow]].


==Instrumentation==
==Instrumentation==
The Suite is scored for an orchestra consisting of 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets (in A, C), 2 bassoons + 4 horns (in F), 2 trumpets (C, E), 3 trombones, tuba + 4 timpani, tambourine, triangle, cymbals, bass drum + harp, violins I, violins II, violas, cellos, double basses.  
The Overture is scored for an orchestra consisting of piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B-flat), 2 bassoons + 4 horns (in F, E), 2 trumpets (C, D), 3 trombones, tuba + timpani + violins I, violins II, violas, cellos, and double basses, with optional cymbals and bass drum.


The ''Scherzo burlesque'' includes parts for four accordions ''ad libitum'', and Tchaikovsky's note at the head of this movement reads:
==Duration==
{{quote|To receive the proper effect of this piece, accordions are very much desirable, but not essential. They should be in the key of E and with 10 keys. The performers of the first and second accordion parts should use their right hands for the 6th and 7th stops, and the performers of the third and fourth parts on the 2nd and 3rd. In both cases the left hand should be used for both large stops. The large notes relate to the sounds produced with the right hand, and the small notes to the bass chords produced by pressing with the left hand.}}
There is one movement: Andante—Allegro vivo (C minor, 662 bars), which lasts around 15 minutes in performance.
 
==Movements and Duration==
There are five movements:
<ol style="list-style-type: upper-roman;">
<li>''Jeu de sons'' <ref name="note1"/>. Andantino un poco rubato—Allegro molto vivace (C major, 427 bars)</li>
<li>''Valse''. Moderato (A major, 355 bars)</li>
<li>''Scherzo burlesque'' <ref name="note2"/>. Vivace con spirito (E major, 382 bars)</li>
<li>''Rêves d'enfant''. Andante molto sostenuto (A minor, 136 bars)</li>
<li>''Danse baroque (Style [[Dargomyzhsky|Dargomigsky]])''. Vivacissimo (C major, 306 bars)</li>
</ol>
A complete performance lasts approximately 35 to 40 minutes.


==Composition==
==Composition==
"''[[Mazepa]]'' is completely finished; now I shall take a long holiday", Tchaikovsky told [[Karl Davydov]] on 31 May/12 June 1883 upon his arrival at [[Podushkino]] <ref name="note3"/>. However, the autograph date in the notebook containing sketches for the Second Suite reads: "[[Podushkino]]. 1 June. Evening", indicating that the day after writing to [[Karl Davydov]], Tchaikovsky began to work on his Suite. On 15/27 June he told [[Nadezhda von Meck]]: "Idleness is already taking its toll on me; I have rested enough, and am thinking about a new composition, and think about composing something new, probably in a symphonic mould" <ref name="note4"/>.
No information survives concerning the process of composing the Overture. In a letter to his brothers [[Anatoly]] and [[Modest]] of 10/22 January 1866, Tchaikovsky reports on his work on the instrumentation: "I've already orchestrated the greater part of my summer overture, and, to my horror, it's turning out to be terribly long, which I didn't expect at all. I promised [[Nikolay Rubinstein|N. Rubinstein]] that I would submit it for performance here first, and after that I shall send it on to [[Petersburg]]" <ref name="note1"/>.
 
Although at that time he was occupied with the publisher's proofs of his opera ''[[Mazepa]]'', Tchaikovsky managed to write a little of his new orchestral composition, which by this time had already been designated a Suite. But its composition dragged greatly. Around 3/15–4/16 July, in a letter to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]], he wrote: "Instead of resting from composition, I suddenly took it into my head to write a suite. But there is no inspiration; every day I write a little and am disappointed afterwards" <ref name="note5"/>.
 
This statement is borne out by the large number of crossings-out in the notebook containing his sketches. On 10/22 August, Tchaikovsky told his brother [[Modest]]: "I am now sitting over a ''suite''. My accursed disposition means that I don't have the ability to relax, although I should like to someday" <ref name="note6"/>.
 
That same day, he wrote to [[Nadezhda von Meck]] that he hoped over the next few days to finish the Suite in rough, and to set about its instrumentation at [[Kamenka]] <ref name="note7"/>.
 
In a letter to [[Nadezhda von Meck]] of 23 August/4 September, he reported on the Suite: "The reason I should like to finish it quickly is that if I fail to orchestrate it before the winter season, then I won't manage to hear it played while I am in [[Moscow]], and it is something I would very much like to hear, since I have made use of some new orchestral combinations, which I think are very interesting" <ref name="note8"/>. In the same letter he said that while at [[Kamenka]] he was determined to rest; evidently the rough sketches had been completed.
 
The disposition of the sketches in his notebook indicates the sequence in which the composer worked on each movement. These sketches relate to the first, second, third and fifth movements of the Suite. It would appear that the sketches for the first movement were made first of all, with a large number of rejected variants; next were sketches for the Scherzo, a variant of the theme of the Andante, then sketches for the waltz, alternating with the main theme of the ''Danse baroque''; even after working on the scherzo and the waltz, the composer returned afresh to the first movement.
 
Arriving in [[Verbovka]], on 7/19 September Tchaikovsky then set about the orchestration of the Suite <ref name="note9"/>.
 
The composer wrote about the new orchestral combinations employed in the Suite in letters to [[Pyotr Jurgenson]] and [[Modest Tchaikovsky]]. In a letter to [[Jurgenson]] of 12/24 September 1883. he wrote: "Bear in mind that one number of the suite requires'' 4 accordions with 10 stops in the key of E major''" <ref name="note10"/>. Writing to [[Modest]] on 26 September/8 October he reported: "My ''suite'' is coming along very quietly, but I think on the whole it will be a success, and I am almost certain that the Scherzo (with the accordions) and the ''Andante'' (child's dreams) will please" <ref name="note11"/>.
 
During September he wrote about the instrumentation of the Suite in a number of letters to [[Anatoly Tchaikovsky]] and [[Modest Tchaikovsky]].


On 3/15 October, the fourth movement had been completed and despatched to [[Pyotr Jurgenson]], together with the second and third movements and their arrangements <ref name="note12"/>. "I still have to do the finale", he wrote to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]]. "I am ''very pleased'' with this suite and I'm sure it will also please you, particularly ''Child's Dreams'' <ref name="note13"/>.
As [[Nikolay Kashkin]] recalled, soon after Tchaikovsky's move to [[Moscow]], [[Nikolay Rubinstein]] asked if any of his compositions could be performed in the 1866 concert season, and Tchaikovsky suggested this overture <ref name="note2"/>. However, [[Nikolay Rubinstein|Rubinstein]] considered that it could not possibly be performed <ref name="note3"/>.


On 13/25 October, the finale of the Suite was completed and on its way to [[Pyotr Jurgenson]] (according to the date on the manuscript) <ref name="note14"/>.
On 19/31 January 1866, Tchaikovsky sent the manuscript to [[Herman Laroche]] in [[Saint Petersburg]] so that the latter might submit it to [[Anton Rubinstein]] for performance <ref name="note4"/>. But [[Anton Rubinstein]]'s judgement on the Overture was also unfavourable <ref name="note5"/>. Subsequently the composer himself made the following note on the front of the full score: "''Overture'', written in [[Moscow]] in January 1866 and played nowhere (an awful abomination!)" <ref name="note9"/>.


==Arrangements==
References to the Overture in C minor are also encountered in [[Sergey Taneyev]]'s letters to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]] from 1896 and 1897. For instance, on 23 July/4 August 1897, [[Taneyev]] reported that: "I have now found the manuscript of the overture that you wrote about, in C minor (with the episode from the overture to ''[[The Storm]]'')... and I can show it to you on your arrival" <ref name="note6"/>.
While engaged in orchestrating the Suite, the composer simultaneously made the arrangement for piano duet (4 hands), which he considered necessary so that the full score and the arrangement could be printed at the same time. This urgency led him to entrust [[Aleksandra Hubert]] with making the arrangement of the Suite's first movement, but he wanted to arrange the other movements himself <ref name="note15"/>. The arrangement was made in September and October 1883.


==Performances==
==Performances==
On 22 November/4 December, Tchaikovsky played through his Suite on the piano in [[Moscow]] to a group of Muscovite musicians, and it received unanimous approval <ref name="note16"/>.
The Overture was only performed for the first time on 12 October 1931 in Voronezh, conducted by Konstantin Saradzhev, professor of the [[Moscow]] State Conservatory <ref name="note7"/>. Saradzhev also directed a performance in [[Kiev]] the following year, as well as the [[Moscow]] premiere at the Radiotheatre Centre on 30 July 1934.
 
It was performed for the first time in [[Moscow]] on 4/16 February 1884, at a special concert of the Russian Musical Society, conducted by [[Max Erdmannsdörfer]] <ref name="note17"/>. Owing to exhaustion, Tchaikovsky did not attend the concert, earning him a harsh rebuke from the conductor <ref name="note18"/>. In order to make amends he later dedicated his [[Third Suite]] to [[Max Erdmannsdörfer]] <ref name="note19"/>.
 
The first performance of the Suite in [[Saint Petersburg]] took place much later, on 5/17 March 1887, at a Philharmonic Society concert, conducted by the composer <ref name="note20"/>. Other notable early performances include:
* [[Kiev]], 2nd RMS symphony concert, 18/30 March 1888, conducted by Yevgeny Ryb
* [[London]], Queen's Hall, 21 August/2 September 1899, conducted by Henry Wood
* Liverpool, Philharmonic Society Concert, 9/22 October 1901, conducted by Frederick Cowen


==Publication==
==Publication==
From early/mid-November, Tchaikovsky corrected the "unbearably tedious" proofs of the Suite for publication <ref name="note21"/>. Either at this stage, or during the preparation of a second edition, the composer shortened the third, fourth and fifth movements (mainly by excising repeats), with an overall loss of 327 bars. These cuts — which were made both in the full score and in the piano duet arrangement — were not mentioned in the composer's correspondence, but [[Jurgenson]]'s engravers' markings in both manuscripts shows that they must have been made after the suite was originally engraved <ref name="note22"/>.
The Overture was not published during Tchaikovsky's lifetime. It was printed for the first time in 1952 in volume 21 of Tchaikovsky's ''[[Complete Collected Works]]'', edited by Pavel Lamm.
 
In January 1884, the full score and piano duet arrangement were published by [[Pyotr Jurgenson]] in [[Moscow]].
 
The full score and piano duet arrangement of the Suite were published in volumes 19Б (1948) and 49 (1956) of Tchaikovsky's ''[[Complete Collected Works]]'', edited by Boris Karpov. The passages excised by Tchaikovsky in November 1883 are included in appendices to both volumes.


==Autographs==
==Autographs==
Tchaikovsky's manuscript full score {{TOW2|syuita-no-2-harakteristicheskaya-syuita-suite-carasteristique-2017-08-17|(ф. 88, No. 75)}} and arrangement for piano duet {{TOW2|syuita-no-2-harakteristicheskaya-syuita-suite-carasteristique|(ф. 88, No. 76)}} are now preserved in the {{RUS-Mcm}} in [[Moscow]].
Tchaikovsky's manuscript score is now preserved in the [[Klin]] House-Museum Archive (a{{sup|1}}, No. 50).  


==Recordings==
==Recordings==
{{reclink}}
{{reclink}}


==Dedication==
==Related Works==
To [[Praskovya Tchaikovskaya]] (1864–1956), wife of the composer´s brother [[Anatoly]], with whom Tchaikovsky was staying at [[Podushkino]] when he composed the Suite.
The Overture's introduction (bars 1–90) is an extended version of the corresponding section from his earlier overture to ''[[The Storm]]'' (1864); this passage was later re-used in the ''Entr'acte'' to Act II of the opera ''[[The Voyevoda (opera)|The Voyevoda]]''.
 
The central theme of the Overture (bars 176–247) was re-used in Act I (No. 7) of ''[[The Voyevoda (opera)|The Voyevoda]]'' <ref name="note8"/>


==External Links==
==External Links==
* {{imslpscore|Suite_No.2,_Op.53_(Tchaikovsky,_Pyotr)|Suite No. 2}}
* {{imslpscore|Overture_in_C_minor_(Tchaikovsky,_Pyotr)|Overture in C minor}}


==Notes and References==
==Notes and References==
<references>
<references>
<ref name="note1">In the manuscripts of the full score and piano duet arrangement and on some early printed editions of the arrangement, the title of the first movement is given as ''Jeu de tons''. Evidently the incorrect version “tons” was Tchaikovsky's error, later corrected by his publisher, despite the composer's claim to the contrary to [[Nadezhda von Meck]] in [[Letter 2488]], 9/21 May 1884.</ref>
<ref name="note1">[[Letter 78]] to [[Anatoly]] and [[Modest Tchaikovsky]], 10/22 January 1866.</ref>  
<ref name="note2">In the printed arrangement for piano duet the title was given as ''Scherzo humoristique''.</ref>
<ref name="note2">{{bib|1896/17|Воспоминания о П. И. Чайковском}} (1896), pp. 17–18.</ref>  
<ref name="note3">[[Letter 2297]] to [[Karl Davydov]], 31 May/12 June 1883.</ref>
<ref name="note3">{{bib|1900/35|Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского ; том 1}} (1900), p. 225.</ref>  
<ref name="note4">[[Letter 2302]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 15/27 June 1883.</ref>
<ref name="note4">See letter from [[Herman Laroche]] to Tchaikovsky, 27 January/8 February 1866 — [[Klin]] House-Museum Archive (а<sup>4</sup>, No. 2166).</ref>  
<ref name="note5">[[Letter 2308]] to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]], 3/15–4/16 July 1883.</ref>
<ref name="note5">{{bib|1900/35|Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского ; том 1}} (1900), pp. 225–226.</ref>  
<ref name="note6">[[Letter 2326]] to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]], 10/22 August 1883.</ref>  
<ref name="note6">Letter from [[Sergey Taneyev]] to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]], 23 July/4 August 1897 — [[Klin]] House-Museum Archive (б<sup>10</sup>, No. 5791).</ref>  
<ref name="note7">See [[Letter 2325]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 10/22 August 1883.</ref>
<ref name="note7">See letter from Konstantin Saradzhev to Nikolay Zhegin, 29 December 1938 — [[Klin]] House-Museum Archive (дм<sup>8</sup>, No. 168).</ref>  
<ref name="note8">[[Letter 2334]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 23 August/4 September 1883.</ref>
<ref name="note8">The manuscript score of the Overture contains the composer's pencil sketches for the added vocal parts in this passage.</ref>
<ref name="note9">See [[Letter 2339]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 6/18 September 1883.</ref>
<ref name="note9">''Увертюра'', написанная в Москве в январе 1866 г. нигде не игранная (страшная мерзость!).</ref>
<ref name="note10">[[Letter 2346]] to [[Pyotr Jurgenson]], 12/24 September 1883.</ref>  
<ref name="note11">[[Letter 2354]] to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]], 26 September/8 October 1883.</ref>
<ref name="note12">See [[Letter 2359]] to [[Pyotr Jurgenson]], 5/17 October 1883.</ref>
<ref name="note13">[[Letter 2357]] to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]], 3/15 October 1883.</ref>  
<ref name="note14">See [[Letter 2370]] to [[Modest Tchaikovsky]], 17/29 October 1883.</ref>
<ref name="note15">See [[Letter 2346]] to [[Pyotr Jurgenson]], 12/24 September 1883.</ref>  
<ref name="note16">See [[Letter 2394]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 23 November/5 December 1883.</ref>
<ref name="note17">See [[Letter 2419]] to [[Nadezhda von Meck]], 3/15 February 1884.</ref>  
<ref name="note18">{{bib|1901/24|Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского ; том 2}} (1901), p. 621.</ref>  
<ref name="note19">See [[Letter 2493]] to [[Pyotr Jurgenson]], 21 May/2 June 1884.</ref>  
<ref name="note20">Diary entry for 5/17 March 1887.</ref>
<ref name="note21">See letters [[Letter 2382|2382]], [[Letter 2387|2387]] and [[Letter 2389|2389]] to [[Pyotr Jurgenson]], 3/15, 8/20 and 11/23 November 1883.</ref>  
<ref name="note22">The aforementioned cuts were discovered in the 1950s by Boris Karpov by comparing the first edition of the Suite with the autograph. After the end of the trio of the ''Scherzo burlesque'' (bar 333), there are 45 extra bars in the manuscript, followed by a repeat of bars 41–158, rejoining the published score at bars 336–381; this was then followed by 49 bars of coda based on the theme of the trio (ending ''ppp'' with clarinet and pizzicato strings). After bar 11 of the ''Rêves d'enfant'', the autograph contains 32 extra bars, followed by a variant of bars 12–16 in [[Jurgenson]]'s edition before rejoining the published score at bar 17 of the movement. The ''Danse baroque'' is also considerably longer: after bar 218 there are an additional 17 bars, leading to a repeat of bars 41–83; these are followed by another 30 bars, rejoining the published version at bar 222. Reconstructions of the original versions of these movements can be heard on our "[[First Thoughts]]" page. </ref>
</references>
</references>
[[Category:Suites]]
[[Category:Orchestral Music]]

Revision as of 11:01, 2 August 2023

Tchaikovsky's student Overture in C minor (TH 38 ; ČW 36) was composed during the summer of 1865 at Kamenka, and orchestrated in January 1866 in Moscow.

Instrumentation

The Overture is scored for an orchestra consisting of piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B-flat), 2 bassoons + 4 horns (in F, E), 2 trumpets (C, D), 3 trombones, tuba + timpani + violins I, violins II, violas, cellos, and double basses, with optional cymbals and bass drum.

Duration

There is one movement: Andante—Allegro vivo (C minor, 662 bars), which lasts around 15 minutes in performance.

Composition

No information survives concerning the process of composing the Overture. In a letter to his brothers Anatoly and Modest of 10/22 January 1866, Tchaikovsky reports on his work on the instrumentation: "I've already orchestrated the greater part of my summer overture, and, to my horror, it's turning out to be terribly long, which I didn't expect at all. I promised N. Rubinstein that I would submit it for performance here first, and after that I shall send it on to Petersburg" [1].

As Nikolay Kashkin recalled, soon after Tchaikovsky's move to Moscow, Nikolay Rubinstein asked if any of his compositions could be performed in the 1866 concert season, and Tchaikovsky suggested this overture [2]. However, Rubinstein considered that it could not possibly be performed [3].

On 19/31 January 1866, Tchaikovsky sent the manuscript to Herman Laroche in Saint Petersburg so that the latter might submit it to Anton Rubinstein for performance [4]. But Anton Rubinstein's judgement on the Overture was also unfavourable [5]. Subsequently the composer himself made the following note on the front of the full score: "Overture, written in Moscow in January 1866 and played nowhere (an awful abomination!)" [6].

References to the Overture in C minor are also encountered in Sergey Taneyev's letters to Modest Tchaikovsky from 1896 and 1897. For instance, on 23 July/4 August 1897, Taneyev reported that: "I have now found the manuscript of the overture that you wrote about, in C minor (with the episode from the overture to The Storm)... and I can show it to you on your arrival" [7].

Performances

The Overture was only performed for the first time on 12 October 1931 in Voronezh, conducted by Konstantin Saradzhev, professor of the Moscow State Conservatory [8]. Saradzhev also directed a performance in Kiev the following year, as well as the Moscow premiere at the Radiotheatre Centre on 30 July 1934.

Publication

The Overture was not published during Tchaikovsky's lifetime. It was printed for the first time in 1952 in volume 21 of Tchaikovsky's Complete Collected Works, edited by Pavel Lamm.

Autographs

Tchaikovsky's manuscript score is now preserved in the Klin House-Museum Archive (a1, No. 50).

Recordings

See: Discography

Related Works

The Overture's introduction (bars 1–90) is an extended version of the corresponding section from his earlier overture to The Storm (1864); this passage was later re-used in the Entr'acte to Act II of the opera The Voyevoda.

The central theme of the Overture (bars 176–247) was re-used in Act I (No. 7) of The Voyevoda [9]

External Links

Notes and References

  1. Letter 78 to Anatoly and Modest Tchaikovsky, 10/22 January 1866.
  2. Воспоминания о П. И. Чайковском (1896), pp. 17–18.
  3. Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского, том 1 (1900), p. 225.
  4. See letter from Herman Laroche to Tchaikovsky, 27 January/8 February 1866 — Klin House-Museum Archive (а4, No. 2166).
  5. Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского, том 1 (1900), pp. 225–226.
  6. Увертюра, написанная в Москве в январе 1866 г. нигде не игранная (страшная мерзость!).
  7. Letter from Sergey Taneyev to Modest Tchaikovsky, 23 July/4 August 1897 — Klin House-Museum Archive (б10, No. 5791).
  8. See letter from Konstantin Saradzhev to Nikolay Zhegin, 29 December 1938 — Klin House-Museum Archive (дм8, No. 168).
  9. The manuscript score of the Overture contains the composer's pencil sketches for the added vocal parts in this passage.