Orchestral Suite No. 3 (Tchaikovsky)

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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed his Orchestral Suite No. 3 in G, Op. 55 in 1884, writing it concurrently with his Concert Fantasia in G, Op. 56, for piano and orchestra. Its first performance was in St. Petersburg on January 24, 1884, under the direction of Hans von Bülow

Contents

[edit] Structure

The suite is in four movements and lasts approximately 40 minutes.

  1. Elégie
    This movement is a sonata structure not unlike that of the fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet. Unlike Romeo, none of the tensions or contrasts usually present in sonata form are apparent here. This may be due to the rhythmic sameness of the two themes. They possess charm but the lack of variety renders them bland.[1]
  2. Valse mélancholique
    Unlike the previous movement, the themes here show an ingenious variety. While they are rhythmically stiff, Tchaikovsky manages to make this potential detriment into an asset.[2] The orchestral colors stay within the lower range of the orchestra[3]
  3. Scherzo
    This movement continues the special researches in texture and orchestration of the Scherzo burlesque from the Second Orchestral Suite. The kaleidoscopic variety of tone color is fully evident here, but displayed with even sharper contrsts.[4]
  4. Tema con variazioni
    After the theme is presented, there are 12 variations, the final one being a polonaise in deference to Imperial style. Some of these variations preserve the terniary structure of the theme rigidly; others reject it altogether. There are also numerous changes of meter and key. The one element always preserved is a portion at least of the melodic contour from the theme's opening section. This holds true even when the rhythm is drasticaly restructured, additional notes inserted or accidentals added to introduce a new key.[5]
    Due to its length, breadth and popularity, Tchaikovsky himself set the concert tradition of playing this final movement as a separate piece.

[edit] Overview

"I meant to write a symphony, but the title is no importance" Tchaikovsky wrote Sergei Taneyev.[6] When he had gone to the Davidov family estate at Kamenka in the Ukraine, he had been contemplating ideas for a piano concerto and a symphony. Neither plan really materialized the way the composer intended. He quickly recognized his ideas for the symphony were better suited for an orchestral suite like the two he had previously written. The problem lay with the opening movement. Titled Contrastes, it was to be a free-form movement of contrasting musical sounds and patterns, not unlike the Jeu de sons movement that opened the Second Orchestral Suite. The more he worked with the music, the more recalcitrant the music became and the more he hated it. Contrastes finally found its way into the Concert Fantasia.[7]

Tchaikovsky's original layout for the Third Suite was similar to that of his Second—a fairly large opening movement as in his first two orchestral suites, then three smaller ones and a theme and variations finale.[8] The developments that Contrastes underwent, while good for the Concert Fantasia, left the Third Suite unbalanced, with three small-scale movements preceding a theme-and-variations movement as large as all three placed together. Even without Contrastes, the suite remains a long work.[9]

Tchaikovsky believed the public would appreciate the new suite; of the reception at its premiere, he wrote his patroness Nadezhda von Meck six days after the event that "reality far exceeded my expectations. I have never before experienced such a triumph. I saw that then entire mass of the audience was moved, and grateful to me. These moments are the finest adornment of the artist's life. Thanks to these it is worth living and laboring."[10] The composer's brother Modest later claimed it was the greatest public triumph up to that point for a Russian symphonic work. The press was uniformly favorable. with the composer's friend Hermann Laroche declaring Tchaikovsky's music the true music of the future.[11]

Laroche's comment can serve as a useful reminder that what may now sound conventional was taken at the time it was written as something very fresh and original. Tchaikovsky does not plumb any new emotional depths in this work, but he is inventive in handling old expressive issues and forms. The Third Suite most notably explores further the melodic and orchestral possibilities exposed in its two predecessors as well as for Tchaikovsky's return to large-scale variation form.[11]

[edit] Selected recordings

[edit] Bibliography

  • Brown, David, Tchaikovsky: The Years of Wandering (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1986)
  • Warrack, John, Tchaikovsky (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973)

[edit] External Links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Brown, Wandering, 268-9.
  2. ^ Brown, Wandering, 269.
  3. ^ Brown, Wandering, 270.
  4. ^ Brown, Wandering, 270.
  5. ^ Brown, Wandering, 271.
  6. ^ Quoted in Warrack, 161.
  7. ^ Warrack, 180.
  8. ^ Brown, Wandering, 267.
  9. ^ Warrack, 180.
  10. ^ Quoted in Brown, Wandering, 268.
  11. ^ a b Brown, Wandering, 268.