Tchaikovsky
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TH 188

The Marriage of Figaro

Свадьба Фигаро

Opera buffa in 2 acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, translated and edited by Tchaikovsky (1875).

• Text translated into Russian, and recitatives rewritten by Tchaikovsky, 1875.
• First performed in Moscow, 5/17 May 1876.

History

Tchaikovsky's translation of the text of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro was made for a student production at the Moscow Conservatory. In the process of making the translation, Tchaikovsky introduced some cuts and changes to the recitatives. In 1884, when Petr Jurgenson decided to publish an arrangement of the opera for voices with piano "only for the sake of your translation", as he wrote to Tchaikovsky [1], the composer explained why he shortened and changed the recitatives. One of the reasons he put forward was that it was necessary to eliminate portions of the text that were unsuitable for young people, "besides which", he wrote, "in view of the awkwardness of the recitatives when rendered into the Russian language, I occasionally simplified and shortened unnecessarily lengthy passages. The recitativo secco is not music, but a conversation with music, and may be freely abridged whilst preserving the character of the original. On the other hand in the entirely musical numbers I didn't even allow myself to alter the rhythm or metre in the translation" [2].

For the published edition, Tchaikovsky wrote a foreword (dated 31 May/12 June 1884) which was printed on the penultimate page of the arrangement. The composer corrected the proofs for the edition himself. On 20 June/2 July he wrote to Petr Jurgenson: "I’m sorry for the delay in sending you the proofs of Figaro. I wanted to confine myself to correcting the text, but I couldn’t resist going through the music..." [3].

While reviewing the proofs, Tchaikovsky was dissatisfied with the arrangement which Petr Jurgenson selected for the edition, and wrote to him: "It's a pity that I didn’t think to make a new arrangement myself!" [4]. The first performance of the opera The Marriage of Figaro with the text in Tchaikovsky's translation took place on 5/17 May 1876. This translation of the opera is still used today.

Published by Petr Jurgenson in 1884 (vocal-piano score).

From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), p. 486
English text copyright © 2006 Brett Langston

References:

1. Letter from Petr Jurgenson to Tchaikovsky, 3/15 May 1884 [back]
2. Letter 2498 to Petr Jurgenson, 31 May/12 June 1884 [back]
3. Letter 2507 to Petr Jurgenson, 20 June/2 July 1884 [back]
4. Letter 2504 to Petr Jurgenson, 12/24–13/25 June 1884 [back]