Most probably, no composer other than Beethoven has enjoyed the popularity of that of Pyotr Tchaikovsky.\u00a0 His reputation has been secure since his early maturity, and yet, it is equally true that no other major modern composer has endured the distortions and indignities as that imposed upon his personality and personal life after his death.\u00a0 A welter of factors has been trotted out to \u201cexplain\u201d his art and its personal genesis: his sexuality, politics, religious beliefs, and social class.\u00a0 Every generation of musicologists–radical and otherwise–social commentators, and political ideologues has taken its shots at the man.\u00a0\u00a0 And it must be said, chief among the negative attitudes simply has been the implication that his music is vulgar, overly emotional, and void of intellectual attainment–all clearly a reflection of the composer, himself!<\/p>\n
That said, it is refreshing to see that much of the critical persiflage of the last century is now being replaced by a clearer, less ideologically freighted appreciation.\u00a0\u00a0 He is historically important for his integration of the symphonic tradition of Beethoven and Schumann into the colorful, nationalistic atmosphere of Russia.\u00a0\u00a0 But, ultimately it is the eloquence and technical mastery of his compositions that founded his lasting popularity.\u00a0 He was blessed with an extraordinary gift for melodic imagination, and learned to use it in contexts of structural integrity–not a given among the world\u2019s great melodists.<\/p>\n
The Tempest <\/em>was written in ten days of August of 1873 when Tchaikovsky was thirty-three.\u00a0 He was then residing at the estate of a friend in Usovo (about 250 miles south-east of Moscow) surrounded by deep forests and evocative steppes.\u00a0\u00a0 The composer, like many great composers of the nineteenth century, was profoundly influenced by Shakespeare, and a Russian art historian, critic, and friend of Tchaikovsky suggested a detailed \u201cprogram,\u201d or story line for a tone poem to be based on the dramatist\u2019s play, The Tempest.\u00a0 <\/em>Tchaikovsky responded with alacrity, and the work that resulted is a colorful depiction of elements of the play.\u00a0 You\u2019ll initially hear the calm sea that quickly is turned into \u2014well\u2014a tempest by the magician Prospero.\u00a0 The feminine Miranda and her storm-borne lover, Ferdinand inspire a \u201clove theme\u201d redolent of Tchaikovsky\u2019s more famous work, Romeo and Juliet<\/em>.\u00a0 The man\/beast Caliban appears, as do the enchanted spirit, Ariel, and a chorus of elves.\u00a0 The work ends with Prospero renouncing his magical powers, and the blessing of the young couple.\u00a0 The youthful composer\u2019s mastery of orchestration comes to the fore in this colorful work.\u00a0\u00a0 Tchaikovsky spoke of writing this depiction of the supernatural as if he were under a spell, himself–such was the ease of its creation.<\/p>\n –Wm. E. Runyan<\/p>\n \u00a9 2015 Wm. E. Runyan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"program_note_tax":[150],"class_list":["post-220","program_note","type-program_note","status-publish","hentry","program_note_tax-pyotrilyichtchaikovsky"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note\/220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/program_note"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"program_note_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note_tax?post=220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}