Tchaikovsky
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TH 87

Three Choruses

Три хора

For unaccompanied voices (1891).

• Composed February 1891.
• First performed in Saint Petersburg, 23 April/5 May 1891, conducted by Fedor Bekker
• Dedicated to Ivan Mel'nikov's Free Choral Class.
• Average duration: 9m (separately: 3m 30s; 3m; 2m 30s respectively)

History

Written in February 1891 at Frolovskoe, at the request of Ivan Mel'nikov, for his Free Choral Class (according to Modest Tchaikovsky, the manuscript scores for all three pieces bear the date 14/26 February 1891) [1]. As soon as the choruses had been written, Tchaikovsky sent them to Ivan Mel'nikov, who in a letter of 20 February/4 March 1891, enthusiastically thanked Tchaikovsky for the contribution, and sought permission to publish the parts in lithograph, evidently under the impression that the rights to publish the full score belonged to Petr Jurgenson [2].

Tchaikovsky's letter of reply, which has not survived, evidently explained that the choruses were wholly the property of Ivan Mel'nikov, and that he may publish them in his collection [3]. The choruses were quickly learned and performed with success at a concert given by the choral class on 23 April/4 May 1891, in the City Council Chamber in Saint Petersburg, as Ivan Mel'nikov reported to Tchaikovsky in a letter of 11/23 June 1891 [4].

The choruses are dedicated to Ivan Mel'nikov's Free Choral Class, which was instructed by Fedor Bekker. They were published by Petr Jurgenson in 1894–1895, and ‘Tis Not the Cuckoo in the Damp Pinewood in Mel'nikov's collection Russian choruses for mixed voices [Русские хоры для смешанных голоса] (Part 1, No. 7); The Merry Voice Grew Silent in Mel'nikov’s collection Russian choruses for men's voices [Русские хоры для мужских голосов] (No. 1); and Without Time, Without Season in Mel'nikov’s collection Russian choruses for women's voices [Русские хоры для женских голосов] (No. 6).

From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), p. 358
English text copyright © 2006 Brett Langston

References:

1. M. I. Tchaikovsky, Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского, том 3 (1902), p. 503. The whereabouts of the manuscript scores are currently unknown [back]
2. Letter from Ivan Mel'nikov to Tchaikovsky, 20 February/4 March 1891 — Klin House-Museum Archive [back]
3. See letter from Ivan Mel'nikov to Tchaikovsky, 13/25 March 1891 — Klin House-Museum Archive [back]
4. Letter from Ivan Mel'nikov to Tchaikovsky, 11/23 June 1891 — Klin House-Museum Archive. See also the yearbook Обзор деятельности бесплатного хорового класса И. А. Мельникова, под управлением Ф. Ф. Беккер, за первый сезон 1890–1891 года (1891) [back]