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Tchaikovsky |
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TH 21 MontenegroЧерногорияMusic for a tableau vivant (1880).
HistoryOn 10 February 1880, a performance should have taken place at the Bol'shoi Theatre in Saint Petersburg. to mark the 25th jubilee of Alexander II. Tchaikovsky received a proposal via the director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, Karl Davydov, to write the music for one of the production’s tableaux-vivant [1]. These tableaux were meant to depict the principal events during the Tsar's reign. Their texts (compiled from The Origins and History of Russia) were to be accompanied by music, which was commissioned from all the leading Russian composers: Anton Rubinstein, Nikolai Rimskii-Korsakov, Cesar Cui, Eduard Nápravník, Aleksandr Borodin, and others. According to Tchaikovsky, "it was impossible to refuse" [2]. The programme of the scene for which Tchaikovsky’s music was commissioned was described as follows: "The moment at which news is received in Montenegro of Russia's declaration of war on Turkey (the Leader reading the manifesto to the Montenegrins)". Tchaikovsky began work on composing the music on 27 January/9 February in Rome. He originally wanted to use his Slavonic March for this scene, but this did not happen. He worked with great reluctance. "Needless to say, all I could come up with was the most filthy noise and crashing about", Tchaikovsky wrote to Anatolii. Tchaikovsky on 31 January/12 February 1880, after completing the music for Montenegro [3]. The full score was sent to Saint Petersburg, but the production did not take place. Not published. The whereabouts of the manuscript of Montenegro are unknown. From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958),
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