Tchaikovsky
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TH 111

String Quartet No. 1

Струнный квартет № 1

D major, Op. 11 (1871).

1. Moderato e simplice (D major).
2. Andante cantabile (B-flat major).
3. Scherzo. Allegro non tanto e con fuoco (D minor).
4. Finale. Allegro giusto (D major).

• Composed February 1871.
• Scored for 2 violins, viola and cello.
• First performed in Moscow, 16/28 March 1871.
• The second movement Andante Cantabile was also arranged for solo cello with string orchestra by Tchaikovsky.
• Dedicated to Sergei Rachinskii.
• Average duration: 27m.

History

Composed and scored during February 1871 in Moscow, for a concert of works by the author, organized by Nikolai Rubinstein [1] in the Little Hall of the Nobles' Society.

The main theme of the quartet's second movement, Andante cantabile, comes from an old Russian song, well-known during the 1870s, with the words "Vania sat on the divan, smoking his tobacco pipe" [«Сидел Ваня на диване, курил трубку с табаком»]. Tchaikovsky heard this song at Kamenka in the summer of 1869 from a carpenter, who was a native of Kalush province [2].

The quartet had great success both in Russia and abroad [3].

In 1876 the Moscow Conservatory organised a musical evening in honour of Lev Tolstoi, the programme of which included the Andante cantabile. It greatly moved the writer. In his reply to Tolstoi’s letter, Tchaikovsky wrote: "I cannot express how honoured and proud I felt that my music could make such an impression on you" [4].

The Andante Cantabile was arranged by Tchaikovsky for cello accompanied by string orchestra Evidently this arrangement was made in the late 1880s for Anatolii Brandukov, in whose archive the manuscript was discovered.

The first performance of the quartet took place in Moscow on 16 March 1871 at the special concert of Tchaikovsky's works.

The quartet is dedicated to Sergei Rachinskii.

Tchaikovsky originally intended that Vasilii Bessel should publish the quartet. He wrote of this to Hans von Bülow on 1/13 December 1876: "Regarding my quartet, about whose success you wrote to me, I would like to tell you one thing... When, some years ago, I approached the publisher Bessel in Saint Petersburg, and suggested that he should publish this quartet gratis, he consulted with Anton Rubinstein for advice on whether he should print it."'No" - my former tutor replied - "it is certainly not worth it", and Bessel sent me his verdict and a humiliating rejection" [5].

The quartet was published by Petr Jurgenson in 1872.

From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), pp. 368-370
English text copyright © 2006 Brett Langston

Notes:

1. M. I. Tchaikovsky, Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского, том 1 (1900), pp. 366-367; N. D. Kashkin, Воспоминания о П. И. Чайковском (1896), pp. 88-89 [back]
2. See M. I. Tchaikovsky, Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского, том 1 (1900), pp.366-367, and also letter 493 to Nikolai Rimskii-Korsakov. It has been suggested that Tchaikovsky heard an earlier version of the song from Nikolai Kashkin, but seems unlikely since Kashkin’s version had a different ending from the version included by Tchaikovsky in his collection of Fifty Russian Folk-Songs (1869) [back]
3. See M. I. Tchaikovsky, Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского, том 1 (1900), p. 441 [back]
4. Letter 527 to Lev Tolstoi, 24 December 1876/5 January 1877 [back]
5. Letter 443 to Hans von Bülow, 1/13 February 1876 [back]

See also:

• String Quartet No. 1 page on the Internet Music Score Library Project (external site)

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