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Six Pieces

(Шесть пьес)

For piano solo, Op. 19 (1873).

No. 1. Rêverie du soir (Вчерние греэы)
Catalogue References TH 133 ; ČW 112 (as "Evening Reverie")
Date September–October 1873
Key G minor
Tempo/Section Listing Andante espressivo (G minor, 82 bars)
Instrumentation Piano (solo)
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture (ф. 88, No. 111)
First Publication Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1874
Average Duration 4 minutes
Dedication Nikolay Dmitriyevich Kondratyev (1832–1887)
External Links IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (downloadable score)
No. 2. Scherzo humoristique (Юмористическое скерцо)
Catalogue References TH 133 ; ČW 113 (as "Humorous Scherzo")
Date September–October 1873
Key D major
Tempo/Section Listing Allegro vivacissimo (D major, 316 bars)
Instrumentation Piano (solo)
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture (ф. 88, No. 111)
First Publication Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1874
Average Duration 4 minutes
Dedication Vera Viktorovna Timanova (1855–1942)
External Links IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (downloadable score)
No. 3. Feuillet d'album (Листок из альбом)
Catalogue References TH 133 ; ČW 114
Date September–October 1873
Key D major
Tempo/Section Listing Allegretto semplice (D major, 66 bars)
Instrumentation Piano (solo)
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture (ф. 88, No. 111)
First Publication Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1874
Average Duration 2 minutes
Dedication Anna Konstantinovna Avramova (1848–1918)
External Links IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (downloadable score)
No. 4. Nocturne (Ноктюрн)
Catalogue References TH 133 ; ČW 115
Date September–October 1873
Key C minor
Tempo/Section Listing Andante sentimentale (C minor, 66 bars)
Instrumentation Piano (solo)
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture (ф. 88, No. 111)
First Publication Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1874
Average Duration 4 minutes
Dedication Monika Terminskaya
Note Also arranged for cello with orchestra by Tchaikovsky in 1888 (see TH 64)
External Links IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (downloadable score)
No. 5. Capriccioso (Каприччиозо)
Catalogue References TH 133 ; ČW 116
Date September–October 1873
Key B major
Tempo/Section Listing Allegretto semplice (B major, 150 bars)
Instrumentation Piano (solo)
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture (ф. 88, No. 111)
First Publication Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1874
Average Duration 4 minutes
Dedication Eduard Langer (1835–1905)
External Links IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (downloadable score)
No. 6. Thème original et variations (Тема и вариации)
Catalogue References TH 133 ; ČW 117 (as "Theme and Variations")
Date September–October 1873
Key F major
Tempo/Section Listing Andante con moro (F major, 341 bars)
Instrumentation Piano (solo)
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture (ф. 88, No. 111)
First Publication Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1874
Average Duration 11 minutes
Dedication Herman Laroche (1845–1894)
External Links IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (downloadable score)

History

Composed at the request of Pyotr Jurgenson [1], and completed 27 October/8 November 1873 in Moscow (according to the date on manuscript).

Rough sketches for two of the pieces—Nocturne (No. 4) and Capriccioso (No. 5)—are found in the same copybook as sketches for the opera Vakula the Smith (1874), the String Quartet No. 2 (1874), and the Six Pieces on a Single Theme (Op. 21) (autumn 1873). It is possible that some of the Op. 19 pieces were written during the summer of 1873 at Kamenka. In his diary entry for 11/23 July 1873 [2], Tchaikovsky noted down themes for a projected Symphony in B major, which Tchaikovsky used in the Capriccioso (No. 5).

Some time later (around 1888), Tchaikovsky made an arrangement for cello with small orchestra of the Nocturne (No. 4) for Anatoly Brandukov, from a transcription for Wilhelm Fitzenhagen [3].

Each piece is dedicated to a different person: Evening Reverie (No. 1)—to Nikolay Kondatyev; Scherzo humoristique (No. 2)—to Vera Timanova; Album Leaf (No. 3)— to Anna Avramova; Nocturne (No. 4)—to Monika Terminskaya; Capriccioso (No. 5)—to Eduard Langer; Thème original et variations (No. 6)—to Herman Laroche.

The piece Rêverie du soir was performed for the first time by Nikolay Rubinstein in the presence of the author on 22 February/6 March 1874, and the Thème original et variations by Hans von Bülow in early/mid April 1874 [4].

Published by Pyotr Jurgenson in January 1874 as separate numbers, and in May 1874 as a single volume.

From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), pp. 398–399
English text copyright © 2006 Brett Langston


Notes:
  1. See letter 326 to Vasily Bessel, 28 November/10 December 1873 [back]
  2. Дневники П. И. Чайковского (1923), p. 3 [back]
  3. The autograph was discovered in Anatoly Brandukov's archives after his death, and transferred to the Klin House-Museum Archive. In the autograph the cello part is written in Brandukov’s hand [back]
  4. See letter from Hans von Bülow to Louise von Weltz, published in Marie von Bülow, Hans von Bülows Leben. dargestellt aus seinen Breifen. 2. Aufl. (Leipzig. 1921), p. 271 (letter from Kharkov to Louise von Weltz) [back]

This page was last updated on 16 February 2013