Tchaikovsky
www.tchaikovsky-research.net

The Angel Cried Out

(Ангел вопияше)

For unaccompanied mixed voices (1887).

History

Composed in February 1887 at Maydanovo, at the request of Ivan Popov for on behalf of the Moscow Choral Society (autograph date on the manuscript: 18 February/2 March 1887). As early as the autumn of 1886 Tchaikovsky promised to write something for a concert of the choral society, in which he played a significant role, as is evident from a letter from Ivan Popov: "May I take this opportunity to ask you, if it is possible for you to carry out the promise which you made to us last autumn, to write a new composition for this concert?" [1]. The concert was scheduled for February or March 1887, and actually took place on 8/20 March. when Tchaikovsky's chorus was performed under the baton of Fyodor Ivanov.

The chorus remained unpublished during the composer’s lifetime, since the manuscript of the composition was in the possession of the Choral Society, and no-one else knew of it. The manuscript was eventually found in 1906, after Tchaikovsky’s death. Boris Jurgenson wrote to Modest Tchaikovsky on 25 September/7 October that year: "During one of our last meetings I spoke to you about I have spoken to before you about how I tracked down in the Moscow area an (undoubtedly) authentic manuscript of Pyotr Il’ich’s—a religious chorus: The Angel Cried Out... We would like to publish this without delay" [2].

The choral score and parts were published by Jurgenson in October 1906.

From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), p. 364
English text copyright © 2006 Brett Langston

Notes:

1. Letter from Ivan Popov to Tchaikovsky. 30 December 1886/11 January 1887 — Klin House-Museum Archive [back]
2. Letter from Boris Jurgenson to Modest Tchaikovsky, 25 September/8 October 1906 — Klin House-Museum Archive [back]