Sec 3 Omus E-learning: Music of the stage...

Music of the stage

Meanwhile Tchaikovsky was working on his 1st opera, Voyevoda, which was performed at the Bolshoy Theatre in Moscow in Febuary 1869. Shortly afterwards Tchaikovsky met Balakirev, who was recognized a major talent and encouraged Tchaikovsky to tackle the tone-poem Romeo and Juliet, Its subject-matter, dealing with the favourite Russian themes of love and death, fired the composer's imagination, and it quickly became one of his most popular works.

In May 1872, while staying at the country estate of his beloved sister Alexandra and her faamily, Tchaikovsky wrote his 2nd symphony, known as Little Russian, which incorporates geniune Ukrainian folk tunes into its music fabric. It was also well recieved, but he still wanted to achieve operatic success. This eluded him until after his first venture into the world of ballet, with lebedino ozero (Swan Lake), written for the Imperial Ballet in Moscow. Though its first production in 1877 was a disaster, it was the first of his 3 great ballet scores- the others are Spyashchaya krasavitsa (The Sleeping Beauty) and Shchelkunchik (The Nutcracker)- which are still the cornerstones of the classical ballet repertoire.

In 1874 Tchaikovsky's confidence recieved another severe dent when Nikolay Rubinstein contemptuously rejected his First Piano Concerto as "worthless and unplayable". Tchaikovsky rightly ignored the criticism, and refused to alter the score. After Hans von Bulow gave its premiere in Boston, USA, the following year with great success, Rubinstein was forced to admit his mistake. Meanwhile, Tchaikovsky- who spent as much time as possible travellin outside Russia- saw Bizet's Carmen in Paris, and Wagner's Ring at the opening of the Bayreuth Festival Opera, Under these tewin influeances he composed his tone-poem Francesca da Rimini (1876), based on the famous episode in Dante's Inferno, and, in complete contrast, the classically poised Rocco Variations for cello and orchestra.