Tchaikovsky Research : Symphony No. 1, Op. 13 (TH 24)

Catalogue References	TH 24 ; ČW 21
Date	March 1866–February 1868
Key	G minor
Tempo/Section Listing	Daydreams of a Winter Journey (Грезы зимнею дорогой). Allegro tranquillo (G minor, 786 bars). Land of Gloom, Land of Mist (Угрюмый край, туманный край). Adagio cantabile, ma non tanto (E♭ major, 176 bars). Scherzo (Скерцо). Allegro scherzando giocoso (C minor, 441 bars). Finale (Финал). Andante lugubre (G minor)—Allegro moderato (G major, 608 bars)
Instrumentation	Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets (A, B♭), 2 Bassoons + 4 Horns (E♭, F), 2 Trumpets (C, D), 3 Trombones, Tuba + Timpani, Cymbals, Bass Drum + Violins I, Violins II, Violas, Cellos, Double Basses
Notable Performances	Moscow, 5th Russian Musical Society concert, 10/22 December 1866, conducted by Nikolay Rubinstein (3rd movement only) Saint Petersburg, 9th Russian Musical Society concert, 11/23 February 1867, conducted by Anton Rubinstein (2nd and 3rd movements only) Moscow, 8th Russian Musical Society concert, 3/15 February 1868, conducted by Nikolay Rubinstein (first complete performance) Moscow, Bolshoi Theatre concert, 16/28 March 1870, conducted by Eduard Merten (2nd movement only)
Autograph Location	Lost
First Publication	Moscow: Muzgiz, 1957 (the extracts not re-used in 2nd version)
Average Duration	46 minutes
Dedication	Nikolay Rubinstein (1835–1881)
Note	See also Unknown Tchaikovsky
External Links	Wikipedia (article)

(b) 2nd version:

Catalogue References	TH 24 ; ČW 21
Date	Spring 1874
Key	G minor
Tempo/Section Listing	Daydreams of a Winter Journey (Грезы зимнею дорогой). Allegro tranquillo (G minor, 723 bars) Land of Gloom, Land of Mist (Угрюмый край, туманный край). Adagio cantabile, ma non tanto (E♭ major, 168 bars) Scherzo (Скерцо). Allegro scherzando giocoso (C minor, 441 bars) Finale (Финал). Andante lugubre (G minor)—Allegro moderato (G major, 610 bars)
Instrumentation	Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets (A, B♭), 2 Bassoons + 4 Horns (E♭, F), 2 Trumpets (C, D), 3 Trombones, Tuba + Timpani, Cymbals, Bass Drum + Violins I, Violins II, Violas, Cellos, Double Basses
Notable Performances	Moscow, 5th Russian Musical Society concert, 19 November/1 December 1883, conducted by Max Erdmannsdörfer Saint Petersburg, 2nd Russian symphony concert, 22 October/3 November 1886, conducted by Georgy Diutsch New York, Carnegie Hall, Philharmonic Society concert, 26 January/7 February 1896, conducted by Anton Seidl Bournemouth, Winter Gardens, 25 September/8 October 1900, conducted by Dan Godfrey London, Queen’s Hall, 14/27 August 1902, conducted by Henry Wood
Autograph Location	Moscow (Russia): Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture (ф. 88, No. 55) — passages revised in 1874 only
First Publication	Moscow: P. Jurgenson, 1875
Average Duration	45 minutes
Dedication	Nikolay Rubinstein (1835–1881)
Note	For this "definitive" version, Tchaikovsky wrote a completely new second subject in the 1st movement, made some small cuts in the 2nd and 4th movements, and simplified parts of the Finale
External Links	IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (downloadable score) Wikipedia (article)

History

The surviving information on the creative origins of this composition is very sparse. According to the composer’s biography, work was begun on the symphony in March 1866 [1]. The first reference by Tchaikovsky himself to the symphony appears in his letter to Anatoly Tchaikovsky of 25 April/7 May 1866: “At eleven o’clock, I either give a lesson until one [o’clock], or tackle the symphony (which, by the way, is going sluggishly) ... I always return home by twelve [midnight]; write letters or the symphony, and read in bed for a long time... My nerves are extremely fraught again, for the following reasons: 1) my lack of success in composing the symphony; 2) Rubinstein and Tarnovsky... spend all day trying to torment me... 3) being unable to shake off the thought that I might soon die without even managing to complete the symphony” [2].

In the summer of 1866, Tchaikovsky set off for a dacha near Peterhof, where he continued working on the symphony. Here in early/mid June he began to orchestrate the symphony, as referred to in his letter to Aleksandra Davydova on 7/19 June: “I’ve already started to orchestrate the symphony; my health is fine, except that recently I didn't sleep all night because I was so busy...” [3].

Tchaikovsky did not like to recall the summer that he spent in Peterhof. According to Modest Tchaikovsky: “the reason was his G-minor symphony, called by the title Winter Daydreams. No other work cost him such effort and suffering... Despite painstaking and arduous work, its composition was fraught with difficulty, and while pressing ahead with the symphony, Pyotr Il’ich's nerves became more and more frayed. As a result of this exceptionally hard work he began to suffer from insomnia, and the sleepless nights paralyzed his creative energies. At the end of July all this erupted into a terrible nervous attack, the like of which he never experienced again during his lifetime... The most distressing symptoms of this illness were dreadful hallucinations, which were so frightening that they resulted in a feeling of complete numbness in all his extremities”. The dread of these nervous attacks recurring was such that “all his life he abstained from working at night. After this symphony, not a single note from any of his compositions was written at night” [4].

The difficult time Tchaikovsky endured while working on the symphony did not influence the composer’s working methods. In 1875 Tchaikovsky wrote to Modest Tchaikovsky: “Do you really believe that anything worthwhile comes without toil and effort?... Remember back in 1866 how frayed my nerves became at Miatlev's dacha through smoking too much because of my symphony, which wouldn’t come out—that’s just the same. Even now when things are difficult I smoke vast quantities of cigarettes and confine myself to my room, before coming around to formulate a basic motif. On the other hand writing can sometimes be terribly easy; ideas simply fly around one after another... But when this isn't the case, one must still be able to impel oneself to work” [5].

According to Modest Tchaikovsky's recollections, because of his ill-health ”Pyotr Il’ich was unable to finish the symphony in its entirety during the summer. Nevertheless, before returning to Moscow, he decided to show the symphony as it stood to A. G. Rubinstein and N. I. Zaremba, in the hope that it would be performed in one of the Russian Musical Society concerts in Saint Petersburg. But instead he was sorely disappointed; the symphony was judged very harshly and was not approved for performance... The professors' authority was so great that Pyotr Il’ich bowed down before them and took the symphony to Moscow with the intention of revising it” [6].

On 8/20 November 1866 Tchaikovsky wrote to Anatoly Tchaikovsky: “The Dagmar overture is completely finished... Now I'm busy revising my symphony...” [7]. Although it was reworked to make it “fit for inclusion in the programme of a symphony concert”, the Saint Petersburg professors approved only the Adagio and Scherzo. The Scherzo was performed in Moscow on 10/22 December 1866, at the fifth Russian Musical Society concert, conducted by Nikolay Rubinstein, but without success, according to Modest Tchaikovsky [8].

In Saint Petersburg on 11/23 February 1867, at the ninth Russian Musical Society concert, conducted by Anton Rubinstein, the Adagio and the Scherzo were performed. The whole symphony was performed in Moscow on 3/15 February 1868 at the eighth Russian Musical Society concert, conducted by Nikolay Rubinstein, and met with an enthusiastic reception [9]. “My symphony had great success, particularly the amended Adagio” [10].

Thus the First Symphony in its first version, i.e. before the changes made under the influence of Anton Rubinstein and Nikolay Zaremba, was never performed.

In the outer sections of the First Symphony’s Scherzo, Tchaikovsky used the third movement of his Piano Sonata in C♯ minor (1865), excluding its trio.

In 1872, when composing the Cantata for the Opening of the Polytechnic Exhibition, Tchaikovsky made some borrowings from the First Symphony. Sergey Taneyev, reviewing the composer's manuscripts in 1901, wrote to Modest Tchaikovsky: “In the cantata there are some borrowings from the finale of the First Symphony, namely: the introduction to the cantata is almost the same as the introduction to the finale of the symphony (Andante lugubre), made almost twice as long by means of exact and varied repeated sections. After this, the first 12 bars of the Allegro moderato were also used in the cantata's introduction, to which was added a further 50 new bars as a bridge between the cantata's introduction and entry into the tenor solo. The final chorus [«Чтобы к счастью прямей нам шпа дорога»], begins a cappella on the theme of the Russian song «Распашу ли я, млада-младенька». This song is used as the second subject in the finale of the symphony. From bar 29 of the chorus the strings enter, then the whole orchestra joins in the accompaniment. This tutti is not that different from the conclusion to the symphony (from letter M on page 104 of the full score), with the addition of the chorus” [11].

In the finale of the symphony, Tchaikovsky used the folk-song «Я посею ли, млада-младенька». In his memoirs, Nikolay Kashkin wrote: “At the start of his career, Tchaikovsky readily made use of folk-songs, for the finale of his First Symphony he chose the song «Цвели-цветики». Unfortunately, this song had become greatly corrupted in the form in which it was well-known in the towns and cities; when Pyotr Ilyich eventually learned that it was not authentic, he was greatly embarrassed, and turned to various experts on Russian song—for example P. M. Sadovsky and A. N. Ostrovsky—who had learned many popular songs by heart; however, they only knew the town version of the song as it appeared in the symphony” [12].

The song named by Kashkin so far has not been traced, either in written records or in publications. Even so, Vasily Prokunin's collection of 1872 [edited by Tchaikovsky as 65 Russian Folk Songs] records a song «Я посею ли, млада-младенька цветиков маленько» (No. 39), which is very similar to the theme of the finale of the First Symphony. The possibility cannot be excluded that this itself is a variant of the song «Цвели-цветики» referred to by Kashkin. Evidently the song «Распашу ли я, млада-младенька» mentioned by Taneyev, also appears to be a variant of the song used by Tchaikovsky.

In 1874 the composer carried out his long-standing intention to revise the symphony. For this version he wrote a new second subject for the first movement, introduced some small cuts into the second, and in the Finale he made some changes to detail in the Andante lugubre section.

Tchaikovsky gave a detailed account of the reworking of the symphony, and publication of the full score, in a letter to Pyotr Jurgenson of 15 April 1886:

The 1874 version of the symphony was performed for the first time on 19 November/1 December 1883 in Moscow, at the fifth Russian Musical Society concert, conducted by Max Erdmannsdörfer [15].

In spite of the difficulties which beset this symphony, it always remained one of Tchaikovsky's favourite works. In the aforementioned letter to Pyotr Jurgenson of 15/27 April 1886, Tchaikovsky wrote: “I like this symphony very much, and deeply regret that it's had such an unhappy existence” [16]. At the time of its performance in 1883, Tchaikovsky wrote to Karl Albrecht that: “Despite all its huge shortcomings, I still nourish a weakness for it, because it was a sin of my sweet youth” [17], and sometime later to Nadezhda von Meck: “I don't know if you are familiar with my composition. In many respects it is very immature, although fundamentally it is still richer in content than many of my other, more mature works” [18].

The full score in its 1874 version was published in 1875. The orchestral parts were brought out by Jurgenson in 1888. The arrangement for piano duet was made by Eduard Langer [19].

Symphony No. 1

(Симфония № 1)

(a) 1st version:

(b) 2nd version:

History

Notes