2023-05-01 13:40:25
Edited For History
The violin is not only one of the most popular musical instruments, but, within an orchestra, it plays a leading role and is capable of transmitting the most dissimilar feelings when listening to it, from the most lush joy that dance inspires you to saddest and most painful anguish. In the 19th century there were two great violin virtuosos, one was the Spanish Paul of Sarasate and the other was Italian Niccolo Paganini. The case of Paganini was very particular, with his haunted interpretation of those who listened to him, his virtuosity was such that he managed to get sounds never heard with the violin. Not a few said that Paganini had made a pact with the devil to reach such a high position. To such an extent was this idea of the diabolical pact rooted that, at the time of his death, the church denied him the sacraments and sacred burial in a cemetery.
There are numerous concertos for violin and orchestra, there are even concertos for two violins and orchestra, but decidedly There are four concertos for violin and orchestra that are the most appreciated, the best known and the most performed by the great violinists of our days. The peculiarity is that these four concertos for violin and orchestra were written by composers who did not play that instrument and who only wrote a single concerto for violin and orchestra. The four concerts I’m talking about are: the Beethoven concert, the Mendelsohn concert, the Brahms concert and the Tchaikovsky concert. And it is specifically about the latter that I want to talk to you about today.
I would like to point out that I write the last name of this Russian composer with Ch and not with Tch as we see in other places. The sound of our Ch exists in the Russian language and that letter is the initial of the great composer’s last name. The Tch is used by the English and French because they do not have that sound in their language. But let’s go back to Tchaikovsky, who was a very prolific composer who dabbled in the composition of both songs and music for operas, including music for ballets, concertos and sonatas.
Some lovers of classical music come to underestimate him because he is possibly the composer who most touches the hearts of those who do not know classical music. Works such as the music for the Swan Lake ballet, the Nutcracker and the first bars of the First Concerto for Piano and Orchestra are known to all and have been used in multiple films and advertisements. But not because he is closest to the crowds does Tchaikovsky stop having great value as a composer. Before Tchaikovsky there was a group of Russian composers known as “russian school of composition” o “the mighty fist”.
They were Balákiriev, Glinka, Cui, Músorsky, Rimsky-Kórsakov and Borodin. They do not include our Tchaikovsky in this group because they consider him too “European”. My personal opinion is quite the opposite, if we listen carefully to Tchaikovsky’s melodies we will be able to hear popular Russian and peasant themes, his soul, his joy and his melancholy. The sensitivity, harmony and feelings of the Russian people are very present in his work.
Well then, Tchaikovsky had as patron the Countess von Meck, a Russian woman married to a rich German count and from whom she inherited her last name and fortune, although she was already from a very wealthy family. The Countess and Tchaikovsky never met in person. She regularly attended his concerts but there was never a personal meeting, the relationships were always epistolary. It was she who financed his work with a salary that she sent to him so that he could compose. But Tchaikovsky had a sexual preference that was not accepted by 19th century Russian society. This not only made him extremely unhappy but influenced his taciturn, melancholic and withdrawn character.
To try to hide what could not be hidden, he married a woman with whom he was obviously not in love. The worst thing is that instead of finding a soul mate, who, if not as a woman, would at least serve as a life partner, he married a woman, Antonina Miliukova, vulgar, quarrelsome, foul-mouthed… rabble. So was the rest of this woman’s family. Needless to say, the marriage ended in a quick divorce and, to get out of the depression that all this upheaval had caused him, Tchaikovsky went with one of his students to Clarens, a holiday resort in Switzerland.
the student was Joseph Kotek, violinist and it was this student, during these holidays in Clarens, who helped the teacher understand how to approach the composition of a violin concerto. The concerto consisted of three movements, the second, with andante time, being a little weak next to the other two. Tchaikovsky made the decision to leave that melody for another work and recomposed a second movement. In 15 days the work was finished. The logical thing is that it was his student Iósif who premiered it, but, since he was not known, the composer introduced him to the famous Hungarian violinist Leopold Auer to whom he dedicated the work so that he would be the one to premiere it. Great was the disappointment when Auer told him that this work was untouchable due to its difficulty in interpretation, even claiming that as Tchaikovsky, who was not a violinist, he could not realize the difficulty of the work.
The fact is that the concert was inside a drawer until in 1873 the Russian violinist Adolf Brodsky he presented it to the conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and insisted that it have its world premiere there. The director agreed but it was not very well received by the Viennese public because there had not been enough rehearsals for its premiere. Without sorrows or glories it passed until a new presentation was made in London where, although there were no great cheers, at least the criticism was not negative. Finally, the Hungarian violinist Auer accepted that, despite all the difficulties, the concerto could be interpreted and he premiered it in Saint Petersburg where it did achieve the success that it still knows today. The work lasts about 35 minutes and includes all the melancholy, passion and sentimental heartbreak that the composer went through at the time of its composition. Now all that remains is for me to invite you to listen on YouTube to one of the many magnificent performances of this wonderful concert. I guarantee you will love it.
I also invite you to visit my art and history channel on YouTube. He finds me as “Franck Fernández Historia”.
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