Tchaikovsky
www.tchaikovsky-research.net

TH 113

String Quartet No. 3

Струнный квартет № 3

E♭ minor, Op. 30 (1876).

1. Andante sostenuto—Allegro moderato (E♭ minor).
2. Allegretto vivo e scherzando (B♭ major).
3. Andante funebre e doloroso, ma con moto (E♭ minor).
4. Finale. Allegro non troppo e risoluto (E♭ major).

• Composed January–February 1876.
• Scored for Violin I; Violin II; Viola; Violoncello.
• First performed in Moscow, 18/30 March 1876.
• The third movement Andante funebre was also arranged for violin with piano by Tchaikovsky, 1876.
• Dedicated to the memory of Ferdinand Laub.
• Average duration: 37m.

History

Composed and scored in January–mid/late February 1876 in Paris and Moscow. Dedicated to the memory of the violinist and quartet player F. G. Laub, professor at the Moscow Conservatory, who died in March 1875.

Tchaikovsky began to work on the quartet between 3 and 10 January 1876 in Paris [1].

On 26 January he returned to Moscow, from where on 10 February he wrote to Anatolii Tchaikovsky and Modest Tchaikovsky about his work on the quartet: "All my time... is dedicated to composing the quartet, which is already written but not yet scored" [2]. "I’m now working full steam ahead to finish the quartet which, you may remember, I began in Paris" [3].

The quartet was finished on 18 February/1 March 1876. Notes on the fair copy of the score indicate that originally the Andante funebre was to be the second movement, and the Allegretto vivo e scherzando the third.

The quartet was performed for the first time during a soirée at Nikolai Rubinstein's apartment on 2/14 March 1876 [4].

The first public performances took place at a concert by Jan Hřímalý on 18/30 March 1876, and at the second quartet concert of the Russian Musical Society in Moscow on 22 March 1876.

In October 1876. Tchaikovsky worked at correcting proofs of the quartet for the publisher Petr Jurgenson  [5].

The quartet appeared in print during in November the same year. The Andante funebre e doloroso ma con moto was reworked by Tchaikovsky for violin and piano. The arrangement appeared in print in January 1877, at the same time as the arrangement of the Humoresque from the Two Pieces for piano, Op. 10.

From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), pp.372–373
English text copyright © 2006 Brett Langston

References:

1. See letters 445 and 450 to Modest Tchaikovsky, 10/22–11/23 February and 3/15 March 1876, and also letter from Modest Tchaikovsky to the composer, 3/15 January 1877 (Klin House-Museum Archive) [back]
2. Letter 445 to Modest Tchaikovsky, 10/22–11/23 February 1876 [back]
3. Letter 446 to Anatolii Tchaikovsky, 10/22–11/23 February 1876 [back]
4. See letter 450 to Modest Tchaikovsky, 3/15 March 1876 [back]
5. See letter 504 to Anatolii Tchaikovsky, 14/26 October 1876, and letter 508 to Karl Davydov, 18/30 October 1876 [back]