Download THE MUSIC OF TCHAIKOVSKY

THE MUSIC OF
TCHAIKOVSKY
Music playing: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B
flat minor
BY:
MR. EMERLINDO C.
MATIENZO
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (18401893) was the king of composers
for the ballet during the Romantic
period. Ballet is an art form in
which the music and visual aspect
of body movements, costumes and
scenery are combined for the
psychological and artistic
satisfaction the provide.
Some single movement works are
heard more frequently as concert
pieces than as accompaniment to the
dances for which they were written.
Tchaikovsky wrote the 3 greatest ballet
scores of all time. First is the “Swan
Lake” which is a full length ballet with
the extent of a symphony. Within this
vast score is a short piece like the
“Dance of the little Swan”. This shows
his capacity of working within small
forms as well as large.
The second and considered by many as
probably the best for it’s finely structured
main theme is “The Sleeping Beauty”. The
music is light and perfectly matching the
dreamy ambience of the scene.
The “Nutcracker”, a charming light fairytale
story, was his final ballet. It has enchanted
young and old for almost 100 years.
During the Romantic period, the waltz
became so popular that it almost replaced all
other types of ballroom dancing.
Tchaikovsky wrote many waltzes for ballets
such as the “Waltz for Sleeping Beauty”,
“Waltz from Swan Lake”, and “Waltz of the
Flowers”.
Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilich, pronounced
chy KAWF skee, PYAW tuhr IHL
yihch (1840-1893), was the first
Russian composer whose music
became part of the standard concert
program in western Europe.
Tchaikovsky had a gift for creating
memorable lyric melodies and for
contrasting instrumental sounds,
particularly those of wind
instruments, in his orchestrations.
Tchaikovsky was born in Votkinsk,
Russia, on May 7, 1840. From 1862
through 1865, he studied music at
the St. Petersburg Conservatory
with Anton Rubinstein, a Russian
pianist and composer. At the
conservatory Tchaikovsky became
the first Russian composer to
receive systematic Western-style
academic training in the
fundamentals of music.
In 1866, Tchaikovsky began
teaching at the Moscow
Conservatory of Music. During the
next several years, his early
emotional sensitivity developed into
long periods of depression. But he
wrote some of his most optimistic
music during this time. Tchaikovsky
was married briefly in 1877.
However, he and his wife separated
after a few weeks, and he left
Russia to travel in Switzerland and
Italy.
Tchaikovsky is remembered today
outside Russia primarily for his
orchestra works. However, he
devoted equal attention throughout
his career to opera. Of his nine
completed operas, only Eugene
Onegin (1879) and The Queen of
Spades (1890) have gained
popularity in the West. Both are
based on works by Alexander
Pushkin, a Russian writer who died
in 1837.
Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in
B-flat minor (1875) and his Violin
Concerto in D major (1881) are fine
examples of the late romantic concerto.
He also wrote Variations on a Rococo
Theme (1877) for violoncello and
orchestra. Tchaikovsky's many piano
works and songs are seldom performed
outside Russia. More popular in the
West are three string quartets (1872,
1876, and 1877), the Piano Trio in A
minor (1882), and a string sextet
Souvenir de Florence (written 1890,
revised 1892). He died on Nov. 6, 1893.