Tchaikovsky: Russia's Romantic

       Just as Russia began to emerge on the classical music scene, Romantic Nationalism started to spread throughout western art.  The timing may have been fortuitous-- it allowed the still little respected Russian composers to incorporate what they knew best: Russian folk music.  Many composers took this to the extreme, and essentially wrote Russian folk music for classical instruments.  For example, the group of composers known as The Five, or sometimes, The Mighty Handful, prided themselves on their uniquely Russian music.  We will cover them next post.  For now we turn our attention to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, an intermediary between the classical style and the Russian style, and one of the best loved composers in the world.

       Tchaikovsky may be best known for his many "pop" hits, like the 1812 Overture, the love theme from Romeo and Juliet, and various selections from The Nutcracker.  But Tchaikovsky was also a serious composer, and wrote a large amount of so called "absolute" music, including 4 orchestral suites, 3 piano concerti, a violin concerto, and 6 symphonies, among many other ballets, pieces of program music, and chamber music.  His music, though it has a wide emotional range, it can be characterized by broad, expansive melody, and a devotion to traditional forms, such as sonata-allegro form.  Tchaikovsky pushed these forms to the limit, as most of his symphonies are over 40 minutes long.  His music is also overtly emotional, even ultra-Romantic.  

      Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in a small town, to civil servant parents.  Tchaikovsky was very fortunate in this instance.  Though by no means rich, he was able to gain an education and receive musical training from an early age.  Both his parents were musically trained, and supported his interest, but when it came to finding a career, they sent him the Imperial School of Jurisprudence in St. Petersburg to become a civil servant.  The young Pyotr obliged, and eventually became a senior assistant at the Ministry of Justice.  He only held this post for three years, and in 1962, enrolled at the brand new St. Petersburg Conservatory, set up by Tsar Alexander II to nurture native talent.  The Conservatory sure did nurture Tchaikovsky, and he slowly began to gain notoriety as a composer by the time of his graduation in 1865.

       Throughout his compositional life, Tchaikovsky struck a balance between the rigor of the academic western style, and the sometimes playful, sometimes deeply emotional Russian style.  He was ambivalent about the The Five and their rejection of western traditions.  Still, he was on friendly terms with the members of the group, though he put considerable effort into distancing himself from the group.  This is not to say that Tchaikovsky cared less about Russia.  He wrote many works on Russian themes, including his Second Symphony, and a large opera after Pushkin's novel Eugene Onegin.

       Some of Tchaikovsky's music shows us the optimism rural Russia held during the latter half of the 19th century, when it seems as though the end of monarchy was near.  But to tell that story, the disappointment, betrayal, and sheer effort needed to live in such a society must also be included.  Tchaikovsky's music does this with its broad emotional range, covering both the happy and the sad, the victories and the challenges.  A lot of Russian art is political.  Tchaikovsky's is personal.  Instead of speaking to the plight of the people, the music relates to the individual.  Because all revolutions begin and end with the individual.

Here is the first movement form Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings.  The music is a great example of the composer's style, from the intensely emotional chords of the opening, to the lively Allegro.  The movement also showcases Tchaikovsky's attention to form.  The movement is a "Introduction and Allegro" and follows an overall A-B-A arch.

  

Mikhail Glinka: Russia's First Composer

       Russia was a late comer to the world of Western Classical music.  As the case has frequently been throughout Russia's history, the country's disconnect from the West has caused it to fall behind Western cultural  ideas.  Peter the Great recognized this in the late 1700's and did much to westernize Russia through various reforms and, most famously, by building his "window to the west," St. Petersburg.

       So it may come as no surprise that it was Peter Romanov himself who introduced western classical music to Russia, in the form of Italian Opera.  The melodies and dramas associated with these operas were very popular at the time, and any Russian composer who wanted to be heard needed to imitate the popular Italian composers.  Unfortunately, very few Russians were trained in the traditional rules of western classical music composition, and had trouble achieving success.

       Mikhail Glinka was one of the first native Russian composers to achieve popularity in a classical style.  Still, his music is quite different from the traditional Italian style of composition.  Glinka's best known works exhibit the definite traits of Russian folk melody, and a taste for dissonant harmonies not "accepted" in the 18th century canon.
 
      Glinka was born June 1, 1804, in Smolensk, a town west of Moscow.  He enjoyed a privileged youth of the upper class, and went to school in St. Petersburg.  There he studied languages, science, and mathematics; but he also studied music, and broadened his musical horizons.  He learned piano and violin, and also began to compose.

       After school, at the bequest of his father, Glinka began to work for the Foreign Office.  The job allowed much time alone, and Glinka used the opportunity to compose in earnest.  His first major success was an opera, one with overtly Russian themes.  The story is one of a Russian peasant, Ivan Susanin, who sacrifices his own life to save that of the Tsar's.  A Life for the Tsar was an instant success at its premiere in 1836.  It was so successful that it earned a permanent place in the repertoire of all Russian opera theaters.  The Tsar Nicholas I even gave Glinka an expensive ring for his accomplishment.

Here is the overture to the opera, performed by the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Alexander Lazarev.

       Throughout the rest of his life, Glinka wrote much more music and one other major opera, all inspired by Russian themes.  His work (like St. Petersburg) is a Russian imitation of Western European models.  However that is not to say the results aren't beautiful and unique in their own right.  Mikhail Glinka died in 1857, from a cold, and was buried (quite fittingly) in St. Petersburg.

Introduction

       Hey everyone.  This is my first post for my Russian Classical Music blog, so I suppose an introduction is in order.  I'm Andrew, I play piano mainly, and I've studied a lot of classical music.  I'm also a student of Russian History, so I thought I would combine these two interests in a blog.  As the blog progresses, I plan on tracing the history of Russian music through the 19th and 20th centuries, and how the music produced relates to its historical background.  I am also interested in exploring Russian music's relationship with traditional Western classical music, and how this may or may not parallel Russia's political relationship with these countries.  This will include looks at all the major Russian composers, from Glinka to Schnittke.


       Russia has produced some of the most unique composers the world has ever known, and each composer has such a distinct sound.  Think of the melodies of Tchaikovsky, the colors of Rimsk-Korsokav, and the hard-driving rhythms of Stravinsky.  All are so different, yet distinctly Russian, and full of character.


       Next time I will start with a look at Russia's first important classical composer, Mikhail Glinka, who lived in the first half of the 19th century.  

        I'd like to leave you with a selection from one of my favorite pieces of music by a Russian composer.  This is the 1st movement of Stravinsky's Sonata for Two Pianos, written in 1943.  This video is just the recording... in the future I will try to find good live performances to post.  Until next time.


-Andrew