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Home > Works > Piano Music > Twelve Pieces (Op. 40)

Twelve Pieces

(Двенадцать пьес)

Moderate difficulty, Op. 40 (1878).

No. 1. Etude (Этюд)
Catalogue References TH 138 ; ČW 136 (as "Study")
Date February–April 1878
Key G major
Tempo/Section Listing Allegro giusto (G major, 114 bars)
Instrumentation Piano (solo)
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture (ф. 88, No. 115)
First Publication Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1879
Average Duration 2 minutes
Dedication Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1850–1915)
External Links IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (downloadable score)
No. 2. Chanson triste (Грустная песенка)
Catalogue References TH 138 ; ČW 137 (as "Sad Song")
Date February–April 1878
Key G minor
Tempo/Section Listing Allegro non troppo (G minor, 68 bars)
Instrumentation Piano (solo)
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture (ф. 88, No. 115)
First Publication Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1879
Average Duration 3 minutes
Dedication Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1850–1915)
External Links IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (downloadable score)
No. 3. Marche funèbre (Похоронный марш)
Catalogue References TH 138 ; ČW 138 (as "Funeral March")
Date February–April 1878
Key C minor
Tempo/Section Listing Tempo di Marcia funebre (C minor, 115 bars)
Instrumentation Piano (solo)
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture (ф. 88, No. 115)
First Publication Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1879
Average Duration 9 minutes
Dedication Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1850–1915)
External Links IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (downloadable score)
No. 4. Mazurka (Мазурка)
Catalogue References TH 138 ; ČW 139
Date February–April 1878
Key C major
Tempo/Section Listing Tempo di Mazurka (C major, 153 bars)
Instrumentation Piano (solo)
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture (ф. 88, No. 115)
First Publication Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1879
Average Duration 3 minutes
Dedication Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1850–1915)
External Links IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (downloadable score)
No. 5. Mazurka (Мазурка)
Catalogue References TH 138 ; ČW 140
Date February–April 1878
Key D major
Tempo/Section Listing Tempo di Mazurka (D major, 171 bars)
Instrumentation Piano (solo)
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture (ф. 88, No. 115)
First Publication Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1879
Average Duration 4 minutes
Dedication Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1850–1915)
External Links IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (downloadable score)
No. 6. Chant sans paroles (Песенка без слов)
Catalogue References TH 138 ; ČW 141 (as "Song Without Words")
Date February–April 1878
Key A minor
Tempo/Section Listing Allegro moderato (A minor, 110 bars)
Instrumentation Piano (solo)
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture (ф. 88, No. 115)
First Publication Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1879
Average Duration 2 minutes
Dedication Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1850–1915)
External Links IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (downloadable score)
No. 7. Au village (В деревне)
Catalogue References TH 138 ; ČW 142 (as "At the Countryside")
Date February–April 1878
Key A minor–C major
Tempo/Section Listing Andante sostenuto (A minor–C major)
Instrumentation Piano (solo)
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture (ф. 88, No. 115)
First Publication Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1879
Average Duration 5 minutes
Dedication Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1850–1915)
External Links IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (downloadable score)
No. 8. Valse (Вальс)
Catalogue References TH 138 ; ČW 143 (as "Waltz")
Date February–April 1878
Key A♭ major
Tempo/Section Listing Tempo di Valse (A♭ major, 191 bars)
Instrumentation Piano (solo)
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture (ф. 88, No. 115)
First Publication Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1879
Average Duration 3 minutes
Dedication Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1850–1915)
External Links IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (downloadable score)
No. 9. Valse (Вальс)
Catalogue References TH 138 ; ČW 144 (as "Waltz")
Date February–April 1878
Key F♯ minor
Tempo/Section Listing Tempo di Valse (F♯ minor, 231 bars)
Instrumentation Piano (solo)
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture (ф. 88, No. 115)
Klin (Russia): Tchaikovsky House-Museum Archive (v1, No. 443) — variant
First Publication Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1879
Average Duration 6 minutes
Dedication Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1850–1915)
External Links IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (downloadable score)
No. 10. Danse russe (Русская пляска)
Catalogue References TH 138 ; ČW 145 (as "Russian Dance")
Date February–April 1878
Key A minor
Tempo/Section Listing Andantino (A minor, 120 bars)
Instrumentation Piano (solo)
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture (ф. 88, No. 115)
Naples: Biblioteca Conservatorio di musica San Pietro a majella — variant
First Publication Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1879
Average Duration 2 minutes
Dedication Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1850–1915)
Note Based on the Danse russe from Act III of the ballet Swan Lake.
External Links IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (downloadable score)
No. 11. Scherzo (Скерцо)
Catalogue References TH 138 ; ČW 146
Date February–April 1878
Key D minor
Tempo/Section Listing Allegro vivacissimo (D minor, 236 bars)
Instrumentation Piano (solo)
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture (ф. 88, No. 115)
First Publication Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1879
Average Duration 4 minutes
Dedication Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1850–1915)
External Links IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (downloadable score)
No. 12. Rêverie interrompue (Прерванные грезы)
Catalogue References TH 138 ; ČW 147 (as "Interrupted Reverie")
Date February–April 1878
Key A♭ major
Tempo/Section Listing Andante un poco rubato e con molto espressione (A♭ major, 125 bars)
Instrumentation Piano (solo)
Autograph Location Moscow (Russia): Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture (ф. 88, No. 115)
First Publication Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1879
Average Duration 5 minutes
Dedication Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1850–1915)
External Links IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (downloadable score)

History

"I have decided that each morning I shall write something new. Yesterday I wrote a romance, and today a piano piece", Tchaikovsky wrote to Nadezhda von Meck from Florence on 12/24 February 1878 [1]. The result of this decision was the composition of twelve piano pieces of moderate difficulty.

Tchaikovsky referred to the piece Rêverie interrompue (No. 12) in another letter of 13/25 February 1878 [2]. For its middle section the composer used a song which he heard through his window in Venice sung by a single street-singer [3]. Danse russe (No. 10) was written in 1877 as an additional number for the ballet Swan Lake. An earlier version of the Waltz in F♯ minor (No. 9) was written on 4/16 June 1876 in Sergey Taneyev’s notebook (according to the author's date) [4].

While travelling from Florence to Clarens (Switzerland), the composer continued work on the piano pieces. The next reference to the piano pieces was on 28 February/12 March 1878 in a letter to Anatoly Tchaikovsky [5]. By mid/late March he had already completed seven pieces [6]. At the same time Tchaikovsky was working on the Violin Concerto and the Grand Sonata in G major. The sketches for the pieces were completed at Kamenka in April. "The 12 pieces of moderate difficulty for solo piano are ready—but of course, only in draft" [7]. The copying out of the pieces was accomplished by 13/25 July [8]. On 29 July/10 August the composer sent the pieces to his publisher in Moscow, together with a number of other completed works (the Grand Sonata in G major, the Children's Album, the Six Romances (Op. 38), and the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom). While preparing the pieces for publication, Tchaikovsky asked Pyotr Jurgenson to: "ask Taneyev to play through these pieces, and correct any mistakes he might find" [9]. The proofs were corrected by Nikolay Kashkin, although Tchaikovsky himself also reviewed them [10].

The pieces are dedicated to Modest Tchaikovsky. The manuscript score carries no dedication, but his name appeared on the first edition at the author’s request.

Published by Pyotr Jurgenson in 1879.

From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), pp. 404–405
English text copyright © 2006 Brett Langston

Notes:
  1. Letter 758 to Nadezhda von Meck, 12/24 February 1878 [back]
  2. See letter 759 to Anatoly Tchaikovsky, 13/25–14/26 February 1878, and also letters 696 and 758 to Nadezhda von Meck, 20 December 1877/1 January 1878 (with a note of the song) and 12/24 February 1878 [back]
  3. Modest Tchaikovsky, Жизнь Петра Ильича Чайковского, том 2 (1901), p. 205 [back]
  4. Until recently this piece had been wrongly dated to 1876 instead of 1878, and was consequently classified as an earlier, independent work – namely, the Waltz in F♯ minor. However, it has now been established that this was actually a later variant of the Valse—No. 9 of the Twelve Pieces (Op. 40)—made for Sergey Taneyev [back]
  5. Letter 773 to Anatoly Tchaikovsky, 27 February/11 March–1/13 March 1878 [back]
  6. See letter 789 to Pyotr Jurgenson, 15/27 March 1878 [back]
  7. Letter 820 to Nadezhda von Meck, 30 April/12 May 1878 [back]
  8. See letter 871 to Nadezhda von Meck, 13/25 July 1878 [back]
  9. Letter 964 to Pyotr Jurgenson, 11/23 November 1878 [back]
  10. See letters from Pyotr Jurgenson to Tchaikovsky, 24 October/5 November, 27 October/8 November and 16/28 November 1878 – Klin House-Museum Archive – and letter 946 to Pyotr Jurgenson, 20 October/1 November 1878 [back]

This page was last updated on 14 February 2013