Tchaikovsky
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TH 64

Nocturne

Ноктюрн

Arrangement for cello with small orchestra, D minor (?1888).

• Arranged by February 1888 (from No. 4 of Six Pieces for piano, Op. 19)
• Scored for cello solo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, strings.
• First performed in Paris, 16/28 February 1888, by Anatolii Brandukov, conducted by Tchaikovsky.
• Average duration: 5m 30s.

History

Tchaikovsky orchestrated the Nocturne (No. 4) from the Six Pieces for piano, Op. 19, for a performance by Anatolii Brandukov in February 1888. It appears that the orchestration was itself based on an arrangement of the piece for solo cello with piano made by Wilhelm Fitzenhagen (Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1879).

The orchestral version was transposed to the key of D minor; the piano piece is set in C-sharp minor.

From: The Tchaikovsky Handbook, vol. 1 (2002), p. 213
Copyright © 2002 Alexander Poznansky and Brett Langston