'The Seasons': About P.I. Tchaikovsky's piano cycle

V.M. Markov

Received March 29, 2017

Full text PDF

Abstract

Vitalii Mikhailovich Markov was the Doctor of Philology and Professor at Kazan University. This paper was written in 2003 and is published with the permission of V.M. Markov’s widow, Zaikonnikova Tatyana Pavlovna, which has the original manuscript.

The paper presents the analysis of P.I. Tchaikovsky’s piano cycle “The Seasons” (1876). The history of its creation, genre specifics of the music pieces, as well as the problem of how the musical character of miniatures is related to their poetic epigraphs. Based on the study of musicological literature and the epistolary heritage of the composer, the conclusions have been made that the plays within the cycle should not be opposed to their interpretation based on epigraphs, as well as about the inevitable subjectivity during interpretation of the miniatures and about the impossibility of categorical description of these piano works.

Keywords: P.I. Tchaikovsky, cycle “The Seasons”, piano miniature, music studies

References

  1. Nikolaev A.A. Fortepiannoe nasledie Chaikovskogo [Piano Heritage of Tchaikovsky]. Moscow, Muzgiz, 1958. 281 p. (In Russian)
  2. Pribegina G.A. Petr Il’ich Chaikovskii [Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky]. Moscow, Muzyka, 1990. 222 p. (In Russian)
  3. Tumanina N.V. Chaikovskii. Put’ k masterstvu [Tchaikovsky. The Path to Mastership]. Moscow, Izd. Akad. Nauk SSSR, 1968. 582 p. (in Russian)
  4. Sidel’nikov L.S. Chaikovskii [Tchaikovsky]. Moscow, Iskusstvo, 1992. 352 p. (In Russian)
  5. Kashkin N.D. Vospominaniya o P.I. Chaikovskom [Memoirs on P.I. Tchaikovsky]. Moscow, Muzykal’naya torgovlya P. Yurgensona, 1896. 163 p. (In Russian)
  6. Tchaikovsky P.I. Perepiska s N.F. fon Mekk [Letters to N.F. von Meck]. Moscow, Leningrad, Academia, 1934–1936. Vol. 1: 643 p. Vol. 2: 676 p. (In Russian)
  7. Tchaikovsky P.I. Perepiska s P.I. Yurgensonom [Letters to P.I. Jürgenson]. Vol. 2: 1884–1893. Moscow, Muzgiz, 1952. 343 p. (In Russian)
  8. Mogil’nitskii V.A. Svyatoslav Rikhter [Sviatoslav Richter]. Chelyabinsk, Ural LTD, 2000. 345 p. (In Russian)
  9. L.N. Oborin: Stat’i. Vospominaniya: K semidesyatiletiyu so dnya rozhdeniya [L.N. Oborin: Articles. Memoirs: On the 70th Anniversary of Birth]. Moscow, Muzyka, 1977. 222 p. (In Russian)
  10. Mil’shtein Ya.I. Stat’i. Vospominaniya. Materialy [Articles. Memoirs. Materials]. Moscow, Sov. Kompozitor, 1990. 286 p. (In Russian)
  11. Asaf’ev B.V. O muzyke Chaikovskogo [On Tchaikovsky’s Music]. Leningrad, Muzyka, 1972. 376 p. (In Russian)
  12. Al’shvang A.A. Opyt analiza tvorchestva P.I. Chaikovskogo [The Analysis of P.I. Tchaikovsky’s Works], Moscow, Muzgiz, 1951, 256 p. (In Russian)
  13. Kogan G.M. Voprosy pianizma [Problems of Pianism]. Moscow, Sov. Kompozitor, 1968. 461 p. (In Russian)
  14. Polyakova L.V. “Vremena goda” P.I. Chaikovskogo [P.I. Tchaikovsky’s “Seasons”]. Moscow, Leningrad, Muzgiz, 1951, 31 p. (In Russian)
  15. Tchaikovsky P.I. Pis’ma k blizkim. Izbrannoe [Letters to Family. Selected Writings]. Moscow, Muzgiz, 1955. XV, 672 p. (In Russian)
  16. Voprosy fortepiannogo ispolnitel’stva. Ocherki. Stat’i [Problems of Piano Performance. Essays. Articles]. Sokolova M.G. (Ed.). Moscow, Mosk. Konservatoriya, Muzyka, 1973, no. 3. 232 p. (In Russian)

 

For citation: Markov V.M. “The Seasons”: About P.I. Tchaikovsky’s piano cycle. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2018, vol. 160, no. 5, pp. 1268–1277. (In Russian)

 

The content is available under the license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.