Born on May 7, 1840, in Votkinsk, Russian Empire; died on November 6, 1893, in Saint Petersburg.
Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 23
Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso
Andantino semplice
Allegro con fuoco
Composed: 1874-75; revised in 1879
Estimated length: 35 minutes
First performance: October 25, 1875, in Boston, with Hans von Bülow as the piano soloist.
An independent witness in the room might have concluded that I was a maniac, an untalented, senseless hack who had come to submit his rubbish to an eminent musician.” Tchaikovsky thus recalled the painful surprise that awaited him when he first solicited an opinion about his work-in-progress, now one of the best-loved pieces in the repertoire, from a colleague. He had invited the influential pianist and conductor Nikolai Rubinstein, who had hired the young composer to teach at the newly established Moscow Conservatory, to listen to him play the first movement at the keyboard. The music had not yet been orchestrated.
Tchaikovsky hoped that Rubinstein would confirm his eagerness to play the solo part at the premiere but was instead advised that the concerto was “so badly written as to be beyond rescue.” Rubinstein did try to soften the blow by suggesting that the score might work with substantial rewrites. Tchaikovsky responded: “I shall not alter a single note; I shall publish the work exactly as it stands!” (Tchaikovsky did in fact decide to make some revisions.)
The two musicians eventually reconciled, and Rubinstein would become an ardent champion of the First Piano Concerto. But the premiere was instead given by the brilliant conductor and pianist Hans von Bülow during an American tour—in Boston, at a safe remove from Moscow, with a pickup orchestra comprising music students who were mostly from Harvard. The Concerto became so popular in the New World that Tchaikovsky conducted it while on tour as part of Carnegie Hall’s inaugural concert in 1891.
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR
A four-note motif in the horns, punctuated by hammer chords, commands attention, setting the scene for the dramatic and passionate melody that is presented in the lengthy grand introduction to the first movement. But this is actually a musical red herring: once introduced, this majestic and unforgettable idea is, oddly, abandoned, never to be repeated in this format (though it does return in subtler ways).
Subdued brass chords bridge the way into the agitated first movement. The main theme adapts a Ukrainian tune the composer claimed to have heard whistled at the market by a blind beggar—one of several imports from folk music in the Concerto. Tchaikovsky gets plenty of mileage out of the shyly lyrical second theme we hear first in the woodwinds. The highly varied first movement mixes quieter musings with high-flown outbursts.
Tchaikovsky’s piano writing calls for a poetic virtuosity, from graceful figurations to heaven-storming double-octaves: emotional contrasts are spun into high drama. The fantasia-like cadenza comes to resemble a play within a play—a microcosm of the piano’s far-ranging personality in this piece.
The Andantino semplice combines the serene lyricism of a slow movement with the playful energy of a Scherzo, the latter bursts in as a whirling, fast-paced detour at the center and quoting a French folk song. Folk music similarly drives the fiery final movement, where Tchaikovsky once more channels a Ukrainian spirit through a catchy main theme.
Echoes of the restless energy from the first movement resurface here, while a contrasting second theme—drawn from Russian folk music—introduces a tenderly lyrical mood. At the climax of the finale, this second theme is transformed with grand, almost neon-bright splendor, echoing the boldness of the Concerto’s opening.
In addition to solo piano, scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, and strings.
− Thomas May is the Nashville Symphony's program annotator.
Back