Tchaikovsky
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TH 241

Andante & Finale

For piano with orchestra, Op. 79 (1893).

1. Andante (B♭ major).
2. Finale. Allegro maestoso (E♭ major).

• Begun May–July 1893 (based on the second and third movements of the abandoned Symphony in E♭ major (1892). Unfinished, but probably intended to conclude the Piano Concerto No. 3. The unfinished sketches were completed and orchestrated by Sergei Taneev after Tchaikovsky's death.
• Scored for Piano solo; 2 Flutes; 2 Oboes; 2 Clarinets (B♭); 2 Bassoons; 4 Horns (F); 2 Trumpets; 3 Trombones; Tuba; Timpani; Side Drum; Cymbals; Violins I; Violins II; Violas; Violoncellos; Double Basses
• First performed in Saint Petersburgg, 8/20 February 1896, by Sergei Taneev, conducted by Felix Blumenfeld.
• Average duration: 20m

History

The Andante and Finale were initially intended to be the second and third movements of the Piano Concerto No. 3 in three movements, reworked from the Symphony in E♭ major. The second and third movements were left in sketch form.

In November 1894, Sergei Taneev (at Modest Tchaikovsky’s request) began to study the unfinished sketches of these two movements: "I have copied out from Petr Il’ich’s notebooks sketches for two movements of a future piano piece. To start with I made a clean copy, and then began to orchestrate them. The Andante is delightful, but unfortunately Petr Il'ich did not leave it for orchestra, but arranged it as a piano piece" [1].

Evidently, Sergei Taneev ’s work on the Andante and Finale took some time. There was also the question of how the work should be published—whether to return to the author’s original intention, i.e. to publish it in the form of a composition for orchestra, or to preserve its subsequent arrangement and to rework it as a piano piece [2]. In April 1895, Aleksandr Ziloti wrote to Modest Tchaikovsky: "It's a great pity that the Andante and Allegro will not be published for the piano" [3]. but nevertheless, Taneev reworked the pieces in concerto form, and on 24 August/5 September 1895 he reported to Modest that he was "finishing my task of orchestrating Petr Il’ich’s piano compositions. On my arrival in Moscow I will add the finishing touches and hand the full score over to you" [4]. However. the reworking of the full score was delayed [5]. In a letter of 24 February/7 March 1896, Taneev promised Modest that "it will shortly be put in order" [6]

It was eventually decided that the Andante & Finale would be published by Mitrofan Beliaiev, together with the overtures Fatum, The Storm and The Voevoda.

In letters from Mitrofan Beliaiev to Sergei Taneev the question of how to publish the Andante & Finale was raised once again: "You suggested these two movements should be published as an orchestral work;", Beliaiev wrote to Taneev, "... but it seems to me that can be done later; just now I want to have all the materials so that there will be no interruption to the process of publication" [7]. But in a letter of 27 April/9 May he raised the matter again: "I have a related question: how ought I to print the two unpublished movements of Petr Il’ich’s piano concerto, given that Jurgenson has already published the first movement? They can hardly be called two abandoned movements from the concerto! But could they be published as an independent work, i.e. as a fourth concerto in two movements, or as two concert pieces? Or would it not be better to publish them only in orchestral form as two movements from an unfinished symphony?" [8].

It appears that Sergei Taneev and Modest Tchaikovsky both considered publishing the works in two forms—as a piano concerto (or Konzertstück) and as an orchestral composition [9]. Eventually the Andante & Finale were published in Taneev’s version for piano and orchestra in 1897. by the firm of Beliaiev.

The first performance took place on 8/20 February 1897 in Saint Petersburg at the first Russian symphony concert (the piano part performed by Sergei Taneev), conducted by Felix Blumenfeld.

On 17/29 October 1898, Sergei Taneev again performed the Andante and Finale at one of Mitrofan Beliaiev's Russian symphony concerts (in Moscow), conducted by Nikolai Rimskii-Korsakov. For this concert Taneev made some changes to the piano part: "I have preserved everything that was Petr Il’ich’s, but made it more interesting for the pianist, and it seems to me that the concerto will be more successful in this form" [10].

From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), pp. 338–339
English text copyright © 2006 Brett Langston

References:

1. Letter from Sergei Taneev to Modest Tchaikovsky, 3/15 November 1894 — Klin House-Museum Archive [back]
2. See letters from Mitrofan Beliaiev to Sergei Taneev from 1896, and from Aleksandr Ziloti to Modest Tchaikovsky — Klin House-Museum Archive [back]
3. Letter from Aleksandr Ziloti to Modest Tchaikovsky, 9/21 April 1895 — Klin House-Museum Archive [back]
4. Letter from Sergei Taneev to Modest Tchaikovsky, 24 August/5 September 1895 — Klin House-Museum Archive [back]
5. See letter from Sergei Taneev to Modest Tchaikovsky, 18/30 November 1895 — Klin House-Museum Archive [back]
6. Letter from Sergei Taneev to Modest Tchaikovsky, 24 February/7 March 1896 — Klin House-Museum Archive [back]
7. Letter from Mitrofan Beliaev to Sergei Taneev, 10/22 April 1896 — Klin House-Museum Archive [back]
8. Letter from Mitrofan Beliaev to Sergei Taneev, 27 April/9 May 1896 — Klin House-Museum Archive [back]
9. See letters from Aleksandr Ziloti to Modest Tchaikovsky, 9/21 April 1895, and from Mitrofan Beliaev to Sergei Taneev, 10/22 April 1896 — Klin House-Museum Archive [back]
10. Letter from Sergei Taneev to Modest Tchaikovsky, 3/15 October 1898 — Klin House-Museum Archive. This more complex variant of the piano part (Andante, bars 37–118, and Finale, bars 47–63) was published in P. I. Chaikovskii, Полное собрание сочинений, том 62 (1948) [back]