Tchaikovsky; His Life and Works: With Extracts from His Writings, and the Diary of His Tour Abroad in 1888John Lane, 1900 - 232 pages |
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admirers afterwards Allegro Andante Andrew Anton Rubinstein appeared artist audience Balakirev ballet beauty Beethoven Berezovsky Berlin Berlioz Brahms Brahms's Brodsky Bülow character charm chorus composition concert conduct conductor Dedicated dramatic duet Eugene Oniegin fantasia favourite feeling Finale friends German Gewandhaus gift Glinka Grieg Hamburg Hans von Bülow harmony Haydn hear heard Herr idea impression interest Italian Kashkin Kochoubey kovsky Lady Morozova Laroche Leipzig libretto Liszt Maidanovo Manfred master Mazeppa melody ment Moscow Conservatoire movement Mozart Musical Society musicians Natalia never Nicholas Rubinstein opera Oprichnik orchestra Overture performance Petersburg pianist piano pianoforte pianoforte accompaniment played programme quartet realise regards rehearsal Reinecke Rimsky-Korsakov Romeo and Juliet Russian composers Russian music says scene Scherzo Schumann seems Serov Siloti sincere Six songs Sixth Symphony spite style success sympathy Symphony talent Tatiana Tchai Tchaikovsky theme tion took Valse violin Voievoda Wagner whole writes young
Popular passages
Page 57 - No greater grief than to remember days Of joy, when misery is at hand ! That kens Thy learn'd instructor. Yet so eagerly If thou art bent to know the primal root, From whence our love gat being, I will do As one, who weeps and tells his tale. One day, For our delight, we read of Lancelot, How him love thralPd.
Page 57 - The wished-for smile so rapturously kissed By one so deep in love, then he, who ne'er From me shall separate, at once my lips All trembling kiss'd. The book and writer both Were love's purveyors. In its leaves that day We read no more.
Page 56 - Coming into the second circle of Hell, Dante at the entrance beholds Minos the Infernal Judge, by whom he is admonished to beware how he enters those regions. Here he witnesses the punishment of carnal sinners, who are tossed about ceaselessly in the dark air by the most furious winds.
Page 23 - with the memory of a lovely day in May, with verdant forests and tall fir trees, among which we three were taking a walk. Balakirev understood, to a great extent, the nature of Tchaikovsky's genius, and knew that it was adequate to the subject he suggested. Evidently he himself was taken with the subject, for he explained all the details as vividly as though the work had been already written.
Page 57 - No greater grief than to remember days Of joy, when misery is at hand That kens Thy learn'd instructor. Yet so eagerly If thou art bent to know the primal root, From whence our love gat being, I will do As one, who weeps and tells his tale. One day, For our delight we read of Lancelot, How him love thrall'd. Alone we were, and no Suspicion near us. Oft-times by that reading Our eyes were drawn together, and the hue Fled from our alter'd cheek. But at one point Alone we fell. When of that smile we...
Page 23 - B minor (Balakirew suggested most of the tonalities), which was to depict the enmity between the Montagues and Capulets, the street brawl, etc. Then was to follow the love of Romeo and Juliet (second subject in D flat major), succeeded by the elaboration of both subjects. The socalled 'development' — that is to say, the putting together of the various themes in various forms — passes over to what is called in technical language the 'recapitulation...
Page 23 - ... recapitulation' — in which the first theme Allegro, appears in its original form, and the love-theme (D flat major) now appears in D major, the whole ending with the death of the lovers. Balakirew spoke with such conviction that he at once kindled the ardor of the young composer, to whom such a theme was extremely well suited.
Page 180 - I do not know whether my dedication was flattering to Mr. Auer, but in spite of his genuine friendship he never tried to conquer the difficulties of this concerto. He pronounced it impossible to play, and this verdict, coming from such an authority as the Petersburg virtuoso, had the effect of casting this unfortunate child of my imagination for many years to come into the limbo of hopelessly forgotten things.
Page 106 - ... in general, and in particular by his newly awakened enthusiasm for Schumann. The Fourth is remarkable for its brighter qualities, and especially for its unwonted display of humour. The Fifth has touches of religious feeling which are absent from all the rest. In the Sixth, Tchaikovsky seems to have concentrated the brooding melancholy which is the most characteristic and recurrent of all his emotional phases. Throughout the whole of his music we are never far away from this shadow. Sometimes...
Page 23 - Evidently he himself was taken with the subject, for he explained all the details as vividly as though the work had been already written. The plan, adapted to sonata form, was as follows : First, an introduction of a religious character, representative of Friar...