Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)
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The Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Op. 23, was composed in November 1874 - February 1875 at the instigation of piano virtuoso Nikolai Rubinstein, director of the Moscow Conservatory. It was revised in the summer of 1879 and again in December 1888. The concerto is the most famous of the three piano concertos written by Tchaikovsky.
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[edit] History
Tchaikovsky dedicated the work to Rubinstein, whom he also intended to be its first performer. However, when Tchaikovsky proudly showed the work to Rubinstein and two other musical friends at Christmas 1874, he was met with bitter disappointment. After they had given it a first play-through, Rubinstein hastily dismissed the piano concerto as "banal, clumsy and incompetently written" as well as "poorly composed and unplayable." He then asked Tchaikovsky to undertake a substantial reworking of it in accordance with his own wishes. The composer refused to listen to his friend, changing the dedication to the celebrated German pianist and conductor Hans von Bülow, an admirer of Tchaikovsky's music.
The first performance took place on October 25, 1875 in Boston. The premiere was conducted by Benjamin Johnson Lang – with the solo piano part performed by von Bülow.
The Russian premiere took place just one week later in Saint Petersburg, with the Russian pianist Gustav Kross and Czech conductor Eduard Nápravník.
The piano soloist in the Moscow premiere in 1875 was Sergei Taneyev.
[edit] Orchestration
This concerto is scored for a medium-sized romantic orchestra. Tchaikovsky calls for the following:
[edit] Structure
The concerto follows the traditional form of three movements:
- Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso - Allegro con spirito
- Andantino simplice - Prestissimo
- Allegro con fuoco
The concerto is markedly symphonic in character and differs considerably from the more musically conservative and outwardly virtuoso type of concerto that was then widely popular in Russia. Yet, the technical demand placed upon the pianist remains considerable. For example, there are a few passages with rapid octave movement. Speed and awkward note arrangement create further difficulties. As well, a performer must keep up with the overall monumental nature of the work with a very powerful tone that often dominates over the orchestra.
The well-known theme of the introductory section to the first movement is based on a melody that Tchaikovsky heard performed by blind beggar-musicians at a market in Kamenka, near Kiev in Ukraine. This, the best-known passage in the entire concerto, is notable also on account of its formal independence of the movement as a whole. It is also notable that it is not written in the concerto's nominal key of B-flat minor, rather it is in the relative major key of D-flat. Despite its very substantial nature, once the theme has been heard twice Tchaikovsky does not return to the material again.
[edit] Trivia
- Also arranged for two pianos by Tchaikovsky, December 1874; revised December 1888.
- Van Cliburn won the First International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958 with this piece, much to the astonishment of people worldwide, as he was an American competing in Moscow at the height of the Cold War.
- This piece was also further popularized among many Americans when it was used as the theme to Orson Welles' famous "Mercury Theater" Radio Program. The Concerto came to be associated with Welles throughout his career and was often played when introducing him as a guest on both radio and television.
- The opening chords of this piece are quoted in Hoodoo by the British rock band Muse's (from their album "Black Holes and Revelations"). Their quotation is played in the relative minor key (B flat minor) to the original (D flat major).
[edit] References
- Tchaikovsky Page
- http://www.tchaikovsky-research.org/en/Works/th055.html
- Steinberg, M. The Concerto: A Listener's Guide, Oxford (1998)
