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Chaikovsky‘s life. To have unrestricted time and money to dedicate to his art
allowed him to explore ways to express himself musically and share this with the
world. Chaikovsky was infinitely advantaged by gaining this title, as it not only
led him to international prominence, but gave Russian music a new respected
voice worldwide. Chaikovsky was also the first native-born, full time composer to
Music throughout Russia’s history had existed mainly in the forms of folk songs
and church music, such as Byzantine chant. In the year that Chaikovsky
commenced study at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, 1862, folk songs, though
thriving in Russian villages, were seen as crude and barbaric by people living in
the cities2. Under Peter the Great, the Russian cities of St. Petersburg and
in music as a Russian was not seen as acceptable, and lawfully it didn’t exist.
Whilst Chaikovsky was at the Conservatory, the tsar began to grant artists the
title of 'svobodniy khudozhnik', or free artist, though in most early cases the
composer usually had to write in the musical style of the Italian or French to be
1
Richard Taruskin, ‘Tourist Nationalism’, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy
(Accessed13/06/08), www.grovemusic.com
2
Lawrence and Elisabeth Hanson, Tchaikovsky (Red Lion Square, Great Britain: Cox &
Wyman Ltd, 1965), 53.
granted a hearing3. It is interesting to notice the nationalism which Russian
Russian musical life at the time. Sabaneev, an historian, argues that Russia
Chaikovsky entered the Russian music scene, and became one of the most
On a superficial level the advantages that Chaikovsky gained with the title of
clerk5, but could survive as a composer through the patronage from wealthy
Nadezhda von Meck6. Chaikovsky was able to use his funds not only for the costs
of living, but to continue his education, to travel and to promote, perform and
composer is this:
“I have come to the conclusion that sooner or later I shall give up my present
occupation for music. Do not imagine I dream of being a great artist...I only
feel that I must do work for which I have a vocation. Whether I become a
celebrated composer or merely a struggling music teacher – it’s all the same.
In either event my conscience will be clear, and I shall no longer have the
right to grumble at my lot.”7
To begin the comparison of the ‘free artist’ Chaikovsky with his ‘nationalist’
peers, we can see the obvious difference in that they had to hold other jobs. For
3
Hanson, 54
4
Leonid Sabaneev, Tchaikovsky, The Musical Times Vol. 70, No. 1031 (Jan. 1, 1929), 20
5
Hanson, 48
6
Olga Bennigsen, More Tchaikovsky-Von Meck Correspondence, The Musical Quarterly,
Vol. 24, No. 2 (Apr. 1938), 129
7
Wilson Strutte, Tchaikovsky, (London, England: Omnibus Press, 1979), 13
example, all members of ‘The Mighty Five’ had other careers separate to their
railway clerk and Cui an engineer of military fortifications. These composers have
not risen to the same incredible fame as that of Chaikovsky for numerous
reasons.
himself to his art, without consuming himself in musical politics or aesthetics like
‘The Five’, but rather focusing on personal expression through his Russian, yet
Chaikovsky was musically educated, at the Conservatory. Though ‘The Five’ were
educated, it was in their own way, and certainly in a very different way to
Chaikovsky. They were imaginative and innovative, but did not have the same
at the Conservatory. Some say that Chaikovsky is the perfect blend of genius,
conservatory educated and nationalist, and that without each of these factors his
peers’. It was part of his being, innate to him, and not something that needed to
their works through simple quotation, or were simply “folk tune arrangers”9.
Though this sounds harsh, we can see here the huge difference to Chaikovsky, in
that he wrote his own melodies, yet through having such a Russian musical
8
Sabaneev, 21
9
Sabaneev, 21
consciousness, they are equally as characteristic as any folk song10. This can be
Ex.
1
into his musical language as an amalgamation of all his learning and influences
throughout his life. This takes Chaikovsky’s nationalism in his musical language
Another important factor is that Chaikovsky did not feel the need to be
innovative in his aesthetics, unlike ‘The Five’, who set out to continue the legacy
of Glinka in creating a distinct Russian sound. Often, ‘The Five’ assisted the
critics views of Russian music by composing pieces that sounded rather barbaric,
seen as a novelty to European listeners. This encouraged the view that Russian
music was ‘the other’, incomparable in quality to European music. This can be
Ex.
2
10
Sabaneev, 21
One can see here that Mussorgsky is very far from functional harmony, and is
The most prominent intervals are the semitone and tritone, the orchestration is
very bare and raw, and musically the work is very dramatic. Another
and use of the ‘exotic’. This can be seen in works like ‘Polovtsian Dances’ by
might argue that Chaikovsky used similar colouring and novel techniques in his
works at times too, but it served a deeper purpose than merely writing
symphonic poem. It uses extreme writing, and colouring, to serve the purpose of
representing the emotions of Francesca in hell. This shows how Chaikovsky was
Chaikovsky’s music also shows Russian nationalism in another much deeper way.
character flowing through the music as organic pessimism, exalting grief and
borrowed from the folk repertory for the benefit of the European.”12 This
Ex.
3
Originating in the cor anglais and viola, this voluptuous melody directly
represents love. Other intense Russian emotions are also represented in this non-
programmatic way, such as the coda of his 1st symphony, ending with the huge
accelerando. He wrote the work just after marrying a woman whom he did not
love, and was filled with depression. We can also hear his despair in the last
with similar Russian despair, only painted out in a much more programmatic way.
Chaikovsky had the necessary skills to take his works beyond the programmatic
11
Sabaneev, 22
12
Sabaneev, 22
Although ‘The Five’ and other composers classed as completely ‘Russian’ did
write very nationalistic works, many of them wrote some western-style works as
well. To look specifically at ‘The Five’, one could say that Mussorgsky was the
only one who stayed ‘truly Russian’ musically, but he died early and struggled
with alcoholism throughout his life, so it is hard to use him as a decisive figure.
writing quite western music. Though one could certainly continue to argue that
writing symphonies is a very European tradition and question why ‘The Five’ still
continued to use this musical structure at all, one shouldn’t forget that Rimsky-
Korsakov also later studied and taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, with
his 3rd symphony showing the huge change in his writing. The difference between
the more ‘Russian’ sounding 2nd Symphony “Antar”, and the 3rd symphony, built
example though, must be Igor Stravinsky, one of the most famous Russian
composers of all time. He wrote neoclassical works, even serialist works, and is
Chaikovsky and his works. ‘The Fairy’s Kiss’ ballet was written by Stravinsky
based on themes and ideas from a piano piece by Chaikovsky. We see here that
In Stravinsky’s case, it is very interesting to see his almost equal influence from
Stravinsky’s music, as can be seen in works such as his orchestral variations and
Russian nationalist. Here we see how Chaikovsky, hence Stravinsky too, were
as Dvořák, and later, Bartók and Janáček. These composers, in similar technique
to Chaikovsky, merged their nationalism, their national folk music, into their own
musical language, elevated far from the level of basic quoting or manipulation.
The difference between these composers and composers like ‘The Five’ is
another level, to complete assimilation, rather than just utilizing the juxtaposition
Chaikovsky’s ‘Eugene Onegin’. ‘Boris Godunov’ can be seen as the defining work
of ‘The Five’ from that period. Both operas are emotionally realistic, and
important difference between Chaikovsky and his peers, they were both equally
as nationalistic; they just approached it in different ways. The two scenes which
demonstrate this difference are Tatyana’s letter writing scene in ‘Eugene Onegin’
and the clock scene in ‘Boris Godunov’. Tatyana, a soprano voice, sings beautiful
Chaikovskian melodies in celebration of her newly found love. This scene is very
typically Russian, very realistic, suiting the plot. The clock scene at the end of Act
the scene, only this time the character is expressing a tortured psychology rather
indication of the difference between the composers, and their respective circles.
judged as less or more Russian, more simply, they are expressing their
continued advantages over his ‘nationalist peers’. The argument over levels of
‘nationalism’ decreases in importance as time goes on, and it can be seen that
Chaikovsky’s popularity is enduring time increasingly more than his peers. The
reason does not lie solely in his nationalism, but in his education and high quality
dedication to his art. He was able to reach such international success because
his music appealed deeply to both the Russians and the Europeans, in different
ways. But most importantly, it was because his music was universal. In the
words of Sabaneev, “It is the human grief revealed by the magic of a musical
genius, and not the power of the spirit resisting the magic of the world and fate.”
advantage being a ‘free artist’ gave him. He was now allowed the time and
resources to extend his abilities as far as possible to express his emotions and
Hanson, Lawrence and Elisabeth. Tchaikovsky. Red Lion Square, Great Britain.:
Cox & Wyman Ltd, 1965.
Kraus, Joseph C. Tonal Plan and Narrative Plot in Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5
in E Minor, Music Theory Spectrum, Vol. 13, No. 1, Spring 1991.
Poznansky, Alexander. Tchaikovsky: The Man behind the Myth. The Musical
Times, Vol. 136, No. 1826, April 1995.
Sabaneev, Leonid. Tchaikovsky. The Musical Times Vol. 70, No. 1031 , Jan. 1,
1929.
Mussorgsky, Night on the Bare Mountain, ed. W. Bessel & Cie (Boosey & Hawkes
Ltd: London)
Rimsky-Korsakov, Sinfonie C-dur, ed. M.P Belaieff (M.P Belaieff: Frankfurt, 1984)
Tchaikowsky, Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy, (Boosey & Hawkes Ltd: London)
Tschaikowsky, Souvenir de Florence, (Simrock: Berlin, 2002)