Agitato and Allegro in E minor

Tchaikovsky Research

The Agitato and Allegro in E minor, for small orchestra (TH 163 ; ČW 331), was written in 1863 or 1864 as an exercise while Tchaikovsky was a student in Anton Rubinstein's composition classes at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory.

Instrumentation

Scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in A), 2 bassoons + violins I, violins II, violas, cellos, and double basses [1].

Movements and Duration

There is one movement: Agitato—Allegro (E minor, 135 bars), lasting around 5 minutes in performance.

Publication

The work was published for the first time in 1967 in volume 58 of Tchaikovsky's Complete Collected Works, edited by Irina Iordan.

Autographs

Tchaikovsky's manuscript score (which includes the Adagio in F major) is now preserved in the Tchaikovsky State Memorial Musical Museum-Reserve at Klin (a1, No. 125).

Recordings

See: Discography

Related Works

The second theme of the Allegro (from bar 39) was adapted by Tchaikovsky for the finale of his Piano Sonata in C-sharp minor (1865)[2].

Notes and References

  1. The names of the instruments are not specified in the manuscript score.
  2. We are most grateful to Mr Simone Mantelli for bringing this to our attention.