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Tchaikovsky |
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TH 219 Swan LakeЛебединое озероProjected suite from the ballet [Op. 20a] (1882).
HistoryIn 1882, with reference with an idea of Tchaikovsky's to make a suite from the ballet Swan Lake, the composer wrote to P. I. Jurgenson on 20 September: "You know that the French composer Delibes has written ballets. Since ballet is a thing without firm foundations, he made a concert suite from it. The other day I thought about my own Swan Lake, and I wanted very much to save this music from oblivion, since it contains some fine things. And so I decided to make a suite from it, like Delibes. In order to do this I need the whole piano score of the ballet as well as the full score. I don’t know whether you yourself have the full score; if not, and if it proves difficult to extract it from the theatre, just send me the arrangement for the time being, and afterwards I shall indicate to you which numbers and in which order they will be listed. And then, if you wish, this suite could be published in the form of a full score and arrangement for piano duet. Write and tell me what you think about this" [1]. In a letter of 26 September, P. I. Jurgenson agreed to publish the suite, and sent Tchaikovsky the full score and piano score of the ballet [2]. No subsequent references to a suite from the ballet have survived in the composer's correspondence. However, a suite from Swan Lake for large symphony orchestra was published by P. I. Jurgenson in November 1900, as "Op. 20a". This suite also appeared in January the following year in an arrangement for solo piano E. L. Langer. The suite comprised: Scena (opening of Act II, No. 10); Valse in A major (Act I, No. 2); Dance of the Little Swans (Act II, No. 13, Var. I); Scena (Act II, No. 13, Var. V); Hungarian Dance (Act III, No. 20); Concluding Scena (Act IV, Nos. 28 & 29). It is not known who selected these numbers for the suite. From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958),
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