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Tchaikovsky |
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Hymn in Honour of Saints Cyril and Methodius(Гимн в честь святых Кирилла и Мефодия)For unaccompanied mixed voices (1885).
HistoryIn December 1884, the Slavonic Society approached Tchaikovsky with a commission for him to write something for the one thousandth anniversary of the death of Saint Methodius. On 16/28 February 1885, the composer received a similar request from Pyotr Jurgenson: "... to write in honour of Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius a hymn for four voices, and also suitable for one voice [1]. In his letter of reply the composer wrote: "I received your note yesterday. What hymn? Why? Who needs it? Why the hell?, etc. I’ve already been pestered to write something for a gala concert by some Slavonic Society or other. I refused. And now you!... Anyway, on Thursday I’ll be in Moscow and will speak with you then" [2]. During his visit to Moscow from 21 February/5 March to 25 February/9 March, Tchaikovsky acceded to Jurgenson’s request. On 6/18 March, Pyotr Jurgenson sent the composer a Russian translation of the Czech text of the hymn, asking that he should shorten and revise the Russian text [3]. Tchaikovsky immediately completed this task, and on 8/20 March he sent the hymn to Jurgenson. While composing the hymn he was, in his own words "'tormented for 6 hours by this doggerel...". Jurgenson quickly prepared it for publication, and the choral score and parts were issued in March 1885. From:
Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), pp. 353–354 Notes:
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This page was last updated on 12 February 2013