TCHAIKOVSKY WITH BALANCHINE dances together. Instead, with Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky gave them a heart-breaking romance with a tragic ending, expressed by music of compelling emotional power.
The story, which Tchaikovsky may have had a hand in writing, tells of young Prince Siegfried, who, having turned 21, is being urged by his mother to marry a suitable princess. But instead, in Act Two he follows the flight of a flock of swans to a magical lake where they are transformed into beautiful maidens. Siegfried falls in love with their leader, the entrancing Odette. Act Three takes place at a palace ball, where noble families have brought their eligible daughters for Siegfried’ s inspection. An evil sorcerer, however, ensnares him with a black-clad beauty, Odile, who looks exactly like Odette. Too late, Siegfried realizes he has been betrayed, and in Act Four he rushes back to the lake to beg Odette’ s forgiveness, with fatal results.
We will hear music from the Suite published posthumously in 1900 to capitalize on Swan Lake’ s newfound popularity. Its first number,“ Scène,” is the music that opens Act Two as Siegfried arrives at the lakeshore and sees the swan maidens for the first time. The yearning oboe melody— one of Tchaikovsky’ s finest melodic inspirations— is the theme associated with the swans and particularly with Odette.
Tchaikovsky was the master of the balletic waltz, and the“ Waltz” from Act One’ s party in celebration of Prince Siegfried’ s coming of age is one of his earliest and best examples. A big, multisectional dance, it wonderfully contrasts the warmth of strings against the cool glitter of woodwinds.
After the charmingly airy“ Dance of the Little Swans,” comes the enchanted pas de deux( another“ Scène”) from Act Two in which Odette, represented by the solo violin, and Siegfried, by the solo cello, express their love for each other. This also features one of the greatest harp passages in the orchestral repertoire. Again, the theme of yearning for the unattainable ideal is achingly expressed here.
The“ Hungarian Dance” and the“ Russian Dance” are from the colorful parade of national character dances of the
Act Three ball scene. The“ Russian Dance” was added by Tchaikovsky after he’ d composed the score at the request of the 1877 production’ s ballet master, who felt that a dance in their own national style was needed to please the audience.
From Act Four, the“ Finale” is the final ten minutes of the ballet, dramatically tracing the tragic denouement. In a stormriven night, Siegfried frantically pursues Odette back to the lake and begs her forgiveness for his betrayal. The two lovers throw themselves into the lake, thus freeing the other swans to become women again.
Instrumentation: Two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, two cornets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion harp and strings.
SERENADE FOR STRINGS IN C MAJOR
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
In 1877, Tchaikovsky made the disastrous decision of trying to mask his homosexuality by marrying an infatuated young music student, Antonina Milyukova. Within a week of the wedding, he fled from his bride and suffered a nervous breakdown; the aftermath darkened both his personal life and his creative work for years to follow. Fearing public scandal, he shunned Moscow and St. Petersburg and retreated to country estates belonging to his family or close friends.
Kamenka, the estate outside Kiev belonging to his elder sister and her husband, became one of Tchaikovsky’ s safe havens. There, in the fall of 1880, he composed simultaneously two of his most popular works: the 1812 Overture and the Serenade for Strings. While he despised the Overture, written on commission, he poured all his love and craft into the Serenade.
The love stemmed from Tchaikovsky’ s passion for Mozart, his favorite composer.“ I don’ t just like Mozart, I idolize him,” he wrote his devoted patroness Nadezhda von Meck. The Serenade pays homage to the enchanting world of Mozart’ s serenades and divertimentos, such as Eine kleine Nachtmusik. But while Tchaikovsky borrowed certain Mozartean stylistic conventions, his all-string orchestra is much larger than the dozen or so players used for Mozart’ s serenades, and the heart of the work is purely his own. In fact, this piece truly belongs to the world of Tchaikovsky’ s great ballets Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker; exquisitely choreographed by George Balanchine, it has effectively become his fourth ballet.
In the key of C major and in four movements, it opens with a stately slow introduction emphasizing the lushness of string sonority in rich chords. This leads to two themes: the first smooth and yearning, the second suggesting fleet footwork with staccato violins and violas over a plucked accompaniment. Both sections are repeated before the opening music returns to provide a grand, symmetrical close.
The two middle movements are among Tchaikovsky’ s jewels. First comes a glorious, sweeping waltz. It is followed by the third-movement“ Elegy,” with its mood of tender nostalgia. Its introductory rising scales echo the melodic shape of the waltz. The first violins then sing the principal theme to pizzicato accompaniment; this soon grows into a passionate pas de deux between the violins and cellos.
The finale opens with the high, floating violin notes that closed“ Elegy.” Tchaikovsky then spins them into a Russian folk tune: a Volga bargehauling song previously used in his folksong collection of 1869. This neatly accelerates into another folk tune from that collection, which constitutes the main theme of the vivacious Allegro con spirito section. To close, Tchaikovsky returns to the stately introduction from the Serenade’ s first movement and reveals a delicious surprise. As the tempo accelerates again, we discover that this noble music is none other than the finale’ s vivacious Russian folksong decked out in sumptuous court costume.
Instrumentation: String orchestra.
Notes by Janet E. Bedell, © 2018
MAR – APR 2018 / OVERTURE 37