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Tchaikovsky |
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Complete Church MusicПолное собрание духовно-музыкальных сочиненийEditing and arranging of ten volumes of the works of Dmitrii Bortnianskii (1881).
HistoryTchaikovsky edited and arranged Dmitrii Bortnianskii’s works for piano between 20 June/2 July and 27 October/8 November 1881 at Kamenka. In a letter of 7/19 May 1881. Tchaikovsky asked Petr Jurgenson to commission some sort of work from him: "Is there anything you need? Have you any ideas that I could help with?... Such an external stimulus might counter my lack of appetite for work" [1]. Tchaikovsky's request coincided with a letter from Jurgenson [2], in which the latter suggested that the composer might take it upon himself to edit the complete church music of Dmitrii Bortnianskii. Tchaikovsky consented, and in mid/late June. he received Bortnianskii's works from Jurgenson and began work. According to Tchaikovsky this proved to be "quite painstaking and tedious, mainly due to the fact that the majority of Bortnianskii’s works are very commonplace trifles" [3]. Tchaikovsky attempted to persuade Petr Jurgenson not to publish the complete works, but to limit the edition to selected works only [4]. But Jurgenson stuck firmly to his decision, and the composer acquiesced and carried out all the work requested of him [5]. The amount of editorial work required on Bortnianskii's compositions proved to be very extensive. Besides editing, Tchaikovsky made arrangements of some works for chorus with piano accompaniment [6]. Initially this work was delayed due to the fact that Tchaikovsky did not receive all the works right away, but by mid/late August some of the work had been completed and sent to Petr Jurgenson in Moscow [7]. In the middle of September, Tchaikovsky travelled to Moscow, where he spent around three weeks. Returning to Kamenka on 5/17 October he resumed his work Bortnianskii’s compositions: "I’ve now just a single thought in my head: to finish the Bortnianskii as soon as possible" [8]. At the same time he was also correcting the proofs of the first sets. By 27 October/8 November, Tchaikovsky had reviewed and corrected everything, made 40 arrangements, and checked most of the proofs, and all this was sent to Jurgenson. "If I continue to pore over this work without any rest, then my senses will become numbed, I will take ill, and go mad!", Tchaikovsky wrote to Petr Jurgenson on 27 October/8 November 1881 [9]. He flatly refused to work on the first and second sets of proofs, and would confine himself only to the third set. Tchaikovsky then left for abroad. The first set of Bortnianskii's works was issued in December 1881 [10]. In January 1882. Petr Jurgenson sent yet more proofs to Tchaikovsky, since he wanted to be sure that the collection would be ready that month. In Moscow during April, Tchaikovsky was occupied with correcting more proofs of Bortnianskii’s works [11], and on 24 April/6 May he arrived in Kamenka. In August during a visit to Moscow, he was again dealing with proofs of "something or other by Bortnianskii, which is finished at last" [12]. The last volume appears to have been printed in September or October 1882 [13]. In March 1883, Petr Jurgenson approached Tchaikovsky with a request to arrange more works by Bortnianskii, but Tchaikovsky could not attend to this right away because he was busy with composition of a cantata and march for the coronation of Alexander III, and he did not know when he might be in a position to undertake this task [14]. Dmitrii Bortnianskii's compositions were published by Petr Jurgenson in the form of ten volumes. during the period from December 1881 to February 1883 [15]. From:
Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), pp. 499–501 Notes:
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This page was last updated on 14 November 2010