Tchaikovsky
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TH 40

Festival Overture on the Danish National Anthem

Торжественная увертюра на Датский гимн

D major, Op. 15 (1866).

• Composed (?)September–November 1866 (for the marriage of the Tsarevich Aleksandr to Princess Dagmara of Denmark); revised early in 1892.
• Scored for Piccolo; 2 Flutes; 2 Oboes; 2 Clarinets (A); 2 Bassoons; 4 Horns (F); 2 Trumpets (E♭, D); 3 Trombones; Tuba; Timpani; Triangle; Side Drum; Cymbals; Bass Drum; Violins I; Violins II; Violas; Violoncellos; Double Basses.
• Also arranged for Piano duet (4 hands) by Tchaikovsky, by April 1878.
• First performed in Moscow, 29 January/10 February 1867, conducted by Nikolai Rubinstein (1866 version).
• Average duration: 13m

History

Composed and scored in November 1866 in Moscow. Commissioned from Tchaikovsky by Nikolai Rubinstein for the forthcoming celebrations of the marriage of the heir to the Imperial Throne, Grand Duke Aleksandr Aleksandrovich, and the Danish Princess Dagmara [1].

The official celebrations were due to take place at the end of 1866. It is not possible to establish when composition of the overture was begun. On 8/20 November 1866, Tchaikovsky wrote to his brother Anatolii: "The Dagmara overture is completely finished, but, it seems, her visit to Moscow has been postponed until April, and consequently I have rushed unnecessarily" [2].

On the autograph score is the date: "12 November 1866. Moscow" [O.S.].

The celebrations took place between 23 April/5 May and 30 April/12 May 1867. Whether the overture was performed a that time has not been established. However, by this time it had already been performed in Moscow, in the Hall of the Nobles' Society on 29 January/10 February 1867, at a concert in aid of families of the victims of the war in Crete, conducted by Nikolai Rubinstein. The overture was not performed in any concerts of the Russian Musical Society that season. On 12/24 April 1867 in the newspaper The Voice, "Rostislav" in his article ‘A brief look back at the concert season’ wrote: "in the original programme an overture by Mr Tchaikovsky was advertised... It was decided that Mr Tchaikovsky’s overture, which combines the themes of the Russian and Danish national anthem, should not be performed because the talented young composer, for some unknown reason, set our Russian national anthem in the minor key, which completely transforms the character of this well-known tune" [3].

An arrangement of the Overture for piano duet was made by the author. On the first page of the manuscript copy of the arrangement, the author has written: "Petr Ivanovich! I don't know whether if want to print this arrangement for piano duet that I made a while ago of the overture on the Danish Anthem. I’ve just come across it by chance. I very much like this overture. I’m sending it to you with Op. 6, with the inscription. P. Tchaikovsky". The arrangement appeared in April 1878, published by Petr Jurgenson.

The full score of the Overture was published in September 1892 by Petr Jurgenson, who was then engaged in bringing a number of Tchaikovsky's unpublished works to press [4].

In connection with the publication of the full score of the Overture, Tchaikovsky wrote on 10/22 May 1892 to Petr Jurgenson: "Once more I must apologise for the Danish Overture. My excuse is that I didn’t know that you were going to engrave it. I’ve had the manuscript since the winter, and saw that it needed quite a while to put in order, and for want of time I abandoned the idea of publishing the overture and sending it back to you—well, that’s my story. Anyway, now I’m reviewing it just once more. I think it’s something that will enter the repertoire because it is, as I recall, very effective, and in musical terms far better than 1812" [5].

From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), pp. 276–277
English text copyright © 2006 Brett Langston

References:

1. M. I. Tchaikovsky, Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского, том 1 (1900), p. 260 [back]
2. Letter 96 to Anatolii Tchaikovsky, 8/20 November 1866 [back]
3. Article by "Rostislav" [F. M. Tolstoi], ‘«Краткий обзор минушего концертного сезона», Голос, №. 102. Tchaikovsky set the Russian anthem in D minor [back]
4. See letter 4686 to Petr Jurgenson, 10/22 May 1892, and letter from Petr Jurgenson to Tchaikovsky, 12/24 May 1892 — Klin House-Museum Archive [back]
5. Letter 4686 to Petr Jurgenson, 10/22 May 1892. At the time of publication, Tchaikovsky made a number of amendments, and rewrote the coda [back]