Tchaikovsky
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Nessun maggior dolore

Sketches (?1881–85).

History

Tchaikovsky made three slightly different settings of Dante’s words: "Nessun maggior dolore / Che ricordarsi del tempo felice / Nella miseria" (‘There is no greater sorrow than to recall happiness in the midst of misery’).

Firstly, Tchaikovsky noted down a melody to Dante’s words (G minor, 15 bars), in his printed collection of church songs; this sketch is dated 13/25 May 1881. Then on 6/18 June 1881, he wrote out a modified version of the same theme—now in A minor (17 bars) and fully harmonized—in a letter to Nadezhda von Meck [1].. Soon afterwards he re-used this setting in the opera Mazepa.

In 1884 or 1885 the composer sketched a new melody to the same words in one of his notebooks. With only small changes, this new setting was used as Astarte’s theme in the symphony Manfred, which dates from 1885, and it is possible that Tchaikovsky conceived this sketch with the symphony in mind.

The Divine Comedy was well-known to Tchaikovsky: in 1876 he wrote the orchestral fantasia Francesca da Rimini and also considered composing an opera on the same subject. In his correspondence, he frequently quoted the lines "Nessun maggior dolore..." when recalling happier times [2].

From: The Tchaikovsky Handbook, vol. 1 (2002), p. 403
Copyright © 2002 Alexander Poznansky and Brett Langston

Notes:

1. Letter 1780 to Nadezhda von Meck, 6/18–11/23 June 1881 [back]
2. For example in letter 481 to Modest Tchaikovsky, 3/15 July 1876, and letter 3805 to Vladimir Davydov, 20 February/4 March 1889 [back]