Tchaikovsky
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TH 79

Hymn in Honour of St. Cyril & St. Methodius

Гимн в честь святых Кирилла и Мефодия

For unaccompanied mixed voices, F major (1885).

• Composed March 1885 (for the 1000th anniversary of the death of St. Methodius).
• Text from a traditional Czech hymn, in a Russian translation adapted by Tchaikovsky.
• Scored for unaccompanied SATB chorus.
• Average duration: 2m 10s.

History

In December 1884, the Slavonic Society approached Tchaikovsky with a commission for him to write something for the one thousandth anniversary of the death of St. Methodius. On 16/28 February 1885, the composer received a similar request from Petr Jurgenson: "... to write in honour of St. Cyril and St. 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, Petr 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
English text copyright © 2006 Brett Langston

References:

1. Letter from Petr Jurgenson to Tchaikovsky, 16/28 February 1885 — Klin House-Museum Archive [back]
2. Letter 2659 to Petr Jurgenson, 18 February/2 March 1885 [back]
3. See letter from Petr Jurgenson to Tchaikovsky, 6/18 March 1885 [back]