Tchaikovsky
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TH 150

Military March

Военный марш

B♭ major (1893).

• Composed March - May 1893. Commissioned by the composer's cousin, Andrei Tchaikovsky, commander of the 98th Iurevskii Infantry Regiment.
• Scored for Piano solo (2 hands). Intended to be orchestrated by the regiment's kapellmeister.
• Dedicated to the 98th Iurevskii Infantry Regiment.
• Average duration: 4m 10s.

History

Composed 24 March 1893 at Klin (according to the date on the manuscript). Written at the request of the commander of the 98th Iurevskii Infantry Regiment – Andrei Petrovich Tchaikovsky. The request was prompted by a desire for the regiment to have its own march, which was an essential tradition in the Tsarist army.

Andrei Tchaikovsky explained the sort of march he wanted: "There should be three sections in all, with something melodic and increasingly noisy" [1]. Tchaikovsky fulfilled the request and wrote the march for piano, sending it the following day to Andrei Tchaikovsky, together with a letter in which he wrote: "I have carried out my promise, and am sending you the march. It will have to be orchestrated by your kapellmeister, because I don't know the compliment of forces in your orchestra. I am sending you the piano arrangement, and let him orchestrate it; if it must be noisy, then it can be augmented without changing the essence of it, i.e. the harmony and the melody must remain intact" [2].

The earliest sketches of the march were noted in the copybook containing the sketches of the Sixth Symphony, and the manuscript of the romance The Sun has Set (No. 4 of Six Romances, Op. 73). Much later, the composer received another request from Andrei Tchaikovsky, this time for a trio for the march: "I did not notice your words that there should be 3 sections in all, and did not write a Trio for the march. Now I know that it’s required, I’m hurrying to send it to you", the composer informed Andrei Tchaikovsky in a letter of 5 May 1893 [3]. The sketches for the trio were made by Tchaikovsky on the manuscript of the piece Passé lontain from the Eighteen Pieces, Op. 72.

The March was dedicated to the 98th Iurevskii Regiment, and published by Petr Jurgenson in 1894 [4].

From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), p. 417
English text copyright © 2006 Brett Langston

Notes:

1. Letter from Andrei Tchaikovsky to the composer, 28 February/12 March 1893 - Klin House-Museum Archive [back]
2. Letter 4903 to Andrei Tchaikovsky, 25 March/6 April 1893 [back]
3. Letter 4928 to Andrei Tchaikovsky, 5/17 May 1893 [back]
4. See letter from Petr Jurgenson to Modest Tchaikovsky, 11/23 December 1894 - Klin House-Museum Archive [back]

See also:

• Military March page on the Internet Music Score Library Project (external site)

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