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TH 53

Hamlet

Гамлет

Overture-fantasia after Shakespeare, F minor, Op. 67 (1888).

  • Composed June - October 1888.
  • Scored for Piccolo; 2 Flutes; 2 Oboes; Cor Anglais; 2 Clarinets (Bb); 2 Bassoons; 4 Horns (F); 2 Cornets (Bb); 2 Trumpets (Bb); 3 Trombones; Tuba; Timpani; Side Drum; Cymbals; Bass Drum; Tam-tam; Violins I; Violins II; Violas; Violoncellos; Double Basses.
  • First performed in Saint Petersburg, 12/24 November 1888, conducted by Tchaikovsky.
  • Dedicated to Edvard Grieg.
  • Music re-used in the incidental music to the play (1891).
  • Duration: approx. 18 mins.

History

As far back as July 1876, Modest Tchaikovsky in one of his letters suggested to the composer some subjects for symphonic poems, including Hamlet. Modest wrote: "Wouldn't you like to do Hamlet? I think it could be organised straightforwardly into three sections:

  1. Elsinore and Hamlet before the appearance of the ghost.
  2. Polonius (scherzando) and Ophelia (adagio).
  3. Hamlet after the appearance of the ghost. His death and Fortinbras" [1].

In his letter of reply of 7/19 July 1876, Tchaikovsky thanked his brother for the programmes and wrote: "Out of them all Hamlet is very much to my taste, but it’s devilishly difficult" [2].

Despite his interest in the subject, Tchaikovsky did not start composition until 1888, but his thoughts repeatedly returned to the project during the intervening period.

In 1885 he noted down a short musical sketch, with a quotation from Hamlet:

In his diary entry for 9 September 1887, Tchaikovsky recorded: "Unsuccessful 2nd theme for Hamlet" [3]. Presumably this note referred to musical sketches in his Notebook No. 4, which is dated on the first page "12 Sept". Over one of these sketches (pages 42-43) is written "Hamlet"; however, this sketch was not used in the overture. Another sketch on page 3 certainly appears to be a preliminary variant of the first theme of the overture's second subject.

A suggestion from the French actor Lucien Guitry served as the catalyst for the composition of the overture-fantasia Hamlet. At the end of March/beginning of April 1888 in Saint Petersburg a gala charity production was planned, including a production of two acts from Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet, with Guitry in the title role [4]. On 25 January 1888, Tchaikovsky, while on a concert tour abroad, received a letter from Guitry, in which he wrote: "Surely in view of the great urgency you could not possibly set your hand to composing an overture so quickly, but what about an entr'acte to a scene from Hamlet, or an entr'acte between changes of scene in the theatre (depicting the murder scene), or the big portrait scene in the Queen's room, where Hamlet kills Polonius and where the ghost appear?. I am writing all this to you against my better instincts, as I am aware of the magnitude of what I am asking. To write and to compose while travelling is extremely difficult. But I would be obliged if you would give the matter some consideration, and ask nothing more. It would have to be performed in a gala production at the Mariinskii Theatre, conducted by Nápravník, in the third week of Lent, i.e. in two months’ time" [5].

In a subsequent (undated) letter from the same year, Lucien Guitry told Tchaikovsky that the production had been cancelled [6]. However, Tchaikovsky was now absorbed in the subject, and had even begun to make preliminary sketches during the course of his foreign tour during the first three months of 1888. Further sketches in his Notebook No. 4 seem to show that the overture as conceived as a work for full symphony orchestra, rather than for the smaller forces of a theatre orchestra.

The Overture does not have a literary programme, but the draft sketches contain some notes on its construction. For example, on the first page of sketches is the note: "Do something at the start which won’t sound like the start of Manfred". Besides this note is another relating to the finale of the overture: "... then very harsh 6[th] chords in E-flat major and pedal for Fortinbras", and below:

"Fortinbras

Ped[al] on G, terrible crescendo and a crash to follow after Hamlet’s death".

The sketches (rough draft) were written between 17 and 22 June 1888, at Frolovskoe, immediately after composing the rough sketches for the Fifth Symphony [7]. The composer mentioned this in a letter to Nadezhda von Meck of 22 June" "All this time I have been working well; I have a1ready prepared in rough a symphony and an overture on the tragedy Hamlet, for which I’ve been collecting materials for some time. Over the coming weeks I will be busy with the instrumentation of both works" [8].

In letters to his brothers Modest of 26 June 1888 [9] and Anatolii of 1 July 1888 [10], Tchaikovsky also refers to the completion of the Fifth Symphony and the Hamlet overture, and his intention to orchestrate them. The scoring of the overture was begun around 9-10 September, after completing work on the Overture-Fantasia by Herman Laroche [11]. The instrumentation was completed on 7 October 1888 (according to the date on the manuscript).

In a letter of 27 October 1888 to Nadezhda von Meck, Tchaikovsky reported: "I have finished the instrumentation of my overture to Hamlet, and made numerous corrections to the proofs of my symphony, and I am now busy with preparations for conducting them both at my concerts... I will be performing Hamlet at a musical society concert" [12].

The Overture was performed for the first time in Saint Petersburg at the third symphony concert of the Russian Musical Society on 12 November 1888, conducted by the author. In Moscow the overture was performed on 14 February 1893, also conducted by the author, in a special concert of the Russian Musical Society.

The full score of Hamlet appeared in print in July 1890, and the orchestral parts in October the same year [13]. An arrangement of the overture for piano duet was made by Henryk Pachulski, and published by Petr Jurgenson in November 1890.

The manuscript score of the overture carries a dedication to Edvard Grieg [14].

From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), pp. 301-305
English text copyright © 2006 Brett Langston

Notes:
  1. Letter from Modest Tchaikovsky to the composer, early/mid July 1876 - Klin House-Museum Archive [back]
  2. Letter 486 to Modest Tchaikovsky, 7/19 July 1876 [back]
  3. See Дневники П. И. Чайковского (1923), p. 178 [back]
  4. M. I. Tchaikovsky, Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского, том 3 (1902), p. 318-319 [back]
  5. Letter from Lucien Guitry to Tchaikovsky, 25 January/6 February 1888 - Klin House-Museum Archive (original in French) [back]
  6. Undated letter from Lucien Guitry to Tchaikovsky, spring 1888 - Klin House-Museum Archive (original in French) [back]
  7. See letter 3595 to Varvara Zarudnaia and Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, and letter 3597 to Modest Tchaikovsky, both 17/29 June 1888 [back]
  8. Letter 3600 to Nadezhda von Meck, 22 June/4 July 1888 [back]
  9. Letter 3602 to Modest Tchaikovsky, 26 June/8 July 1888 [back]
  10. Letter 3607 to Anatolii Tchaikovsky, 1/13 July 1888 [back]
  11. Letter 3699 to Nadezhda von Meck, 14/26 September 1888 [back]
  12. Letter 3711 to Nadezhda von Meck, 27 October/8 November 1888 [back]
  13. See letters 4163 and 4170 to Petr Jurgenson, 2/14 and 10/22 July 1890 [back]
  14. See letter 3655 to Edvard Grieg, 5/17 September 1888, and letter 4170 to Petr Jurgenson, 10/22 July 1890 [back]
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