Tchaikovsky
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TH 177

Ivan the Terrible

Иван Грозный

Arrangement for piano duet of the musical picture by Anton Rubinstein (1869).

• Arranged for piano duet (4 hands) by Tchaikovsky, October 1869.
• Average duration: 23m 10s.

History

Made by Tchaikovsky in 1869 in Moscow at the request of the publisher Vasilii Bessel.

The story of the arrangement is related in the composer's correspondence with his brothers and with Vasilii Bessel: "Yesterday I received a request from Bessel in Saint Petersburg: he wants me to arrange Rubinstein's Ivan the Terrible" [1]. "I’m arranging Anton Rubinstein's overture Ivan the Terrible for four hands" [2], and "I’ve finished the arrangement commissioned by Bessel" [3]. While in a letter to Bessel on 21 December 1869, Tchaikovsky wrote: "Thank you for sending the 40 roubles and also for the proofs of Ivan. A receipt is enclosed" [4].

The arrangement was published by Vasilii Bessel in 1869.

From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), pp. 490-491
English text copyright © 2006 Brett Langston

Notes:

1. Letter 153 to Anatolii Tchaikovsky, 7/19 October 1869 [back]
2. Letter 155 to Modest Tchaikovsky, 12/24 October 1869 [back]
3. Letter 157 to Anatolii Tchaikovsky, 30 October/11 November 1869 [back]
4. Letter 171 to Vasilii Bessel’, 21 December 1869/2 January 1870. The receipt read "I have received 40 silver roubles for arranging A. G. Rubinstein’s composition Ivan the Terrible. Petr Tchaikovsky. Moscow, 21 December 1869" [back]