Ravinia 2022, Issue 5

PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840–1893) Battle of Poltava (Symphonic Tableau) and Cossack Dance (Hopak) from Mazeppa Scored for two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two cornets, two trumpets, two tenor trombones and bass trombone, tuba, timpani, military drum, cymbals, bass drum, and strings Tchaikovsky became obsessed with making an operatic rendition of Pushkin’s play Polta- va between 1881 and 1883. Growing daily in self-confidence, the composer demanded and received an increased fee from his publisher. Expectations for this opera—renamed Maz- eppa after its main character, and based on a libretto by Viktor Petrovich Burenin and the composer—mounted in anticipation of the nearly simultaneous premieres in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Ippolit Altani conduct- ed the official first performance at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater on February 15, 1884. Tchaikovsky fretted over the Moscow pro- duction, which garnered mixed reviews, but was too exhausted to attend Saint Petersburg performances, disappointing at least one au- dience member—Tsar Alexander III. Mazeppa treats a historical incident during the reign of Tsar Peter I (The Great) in three acts, divided into six scenes. The grey-haired Ivan Mazeppa—the hetman (chief) of Zapor- izhian Host, the Cossack state on the left bank of the Dnieper River in present-day Ukraine—falls in love with Mariya, his god- child and the daughter of his friends Kochu- bey and Lyubov. Despite the affections of the virile young Andrey, Mariya has grown at- tached to the hetman. Mazeppa asks Kochu- bey’s permission to marry Mariya, which is vehemently denied. Undeterred, Mariya leaves her family for Mazeppa. Kochubey, promising vengeance against his former friend, informs the tsar of Mazeppa’s plans to lead an insurrection for Ukrainian indepen- dence. The sovereign refuses to believe that the patriot Mazeppa would betray his coun- try and charges Kochubey with treason, a crime that results in his execution. However, Mazeppa combined his forces with the Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1888) Swedish army and mounts a rebellion in the ultimately unsuccessful Battle of Poltava. An orchestral “Cossack Dance” appears in Act One during a party hosted by Kochubey and Lyubov. Mazeppa calls for a rousing dance, and this lively hopak is played. The ho- pak is a duple-meter Ukrainian dance and song type often involving large groups of par- ticipants in a uniform dance step. Tchaikovsky—despite his undeserved reputa- tion as a “non-nationalistic” Westernized composer—took great pains to instill authen- tic folk qualities in Mazeppa , incorporating five genuine folk songs into the score. Other sections of original music, including this ho- pak, demonstrate how the folk spirit flowed undiluted through Tchaikovsky’s veins. Act Three opens with a violent battle between the military forces of Peter I and the com- bined armies of King Charles XII of Sweden and Ivan Mazeppa. Tchaikovsky’s “Battle of Poltava” depicts the deafening cannon blasts, exploding mortars, blazing bullets, and slashing swords and sabers of the real-world battle, waged on July 8, 1708. The composer Portrait of Peter I (The Great) by Jean-Marc Nattier (after 1717) Charles XII and Mazeppa at the Dnieper River after the Battle of Poltava 1709 by Gustaf Cederström incorporated excerpts from the Russian hymn “Glory to You, Our God in Heaven,” the Troparion to the Holy Cross: “Oh Lord, Save Thy People” (also heard in the 1812 Fes- tival Overture), and the “Glory” (Slav’sya) chorus from Mikhail Glinka’s opera A Life for the Tsar . Defeated at the battle, Charles XII and Mazeppa fled to an Ottoman fortress at Bender (in modern-day Moldova), where Mazeppa died on November 11, 1708. An interesting historical footnote: the com- poser of the opera Mazeppa himself descended from a Cossack family. Fedir Chaika lived in the village of Mykolayivka in what became the Little Russia Gubernia (“governorate,” 1765) and later the Poltava Gubernia (1802)—the same region as the historic Battle of Poltava. Fedir’s son, Pyotr Fyodorovich, studied medi- cine at the Kyiv Academy and subsequently in Saint Petersburg, where he likely changed his surname to Chaikovsky. Pyotr, his wife Anas- tasia, and their eight children eventually set- tled in the town of Glazov, where he became mayor. His youngest son, Ilya, became a min- ing engineer, who eventually returned to his home region. Ilya married the daughter of an ethnic Frenchman, the lovely, yet disciplinari- an, Aleksandra Assier. Their second son, born in Kamsko-Votkinsk in the Vyatka Gubernia, was Pyotr Ilyich, the future composer. Violin Concerto in D major, op. 35 Scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, timpani, strings, and solo violin “I neither know nor can understand why, de- spite such favorable circumstances, I am not disposed to work. Am I played out? I have to squeeze out of myself weak and worthless ideas and ponder every bar. But I shall achieve my goal, and I hope inspiration will dawn upon me.” At his retreat in Clarens, Switzer- land, Tchaikovsky initiated a new composition project in 1878 that, he hoped, would revive his beleaguered spirits. The disillusionment caused by his short-lived, disastrous marriage to Antonina Ivanovna Milyukova still clouded his thoughts and dulled his imagination. Josef Kotek, a graduate of the Moscow Con- servatory, arrived in Clarens, bringing a wel- come breath of fresh air. This young violinist was a resident musician of the wealthy and eccentric Nadezhda von Meck. Two years earlier, Kotek had convinced her to commis- sion several short works for violin and or- chestra from Tchaikovsky. Thrilled by the re- sults, she offered Tchaikovsky a substantial annual salary, freeing him from teaching re- sponsibilities at the conservatory. As Tchaikovsky’s patron and friend, the influen- tial Meck helped expedite his divorce pro- ceedings. Plans for a violin concerto quickly came into focus. By March 28, 1878, Tchaikovsky had completed three move- ments. Dissatisfied with the slow movement, he excised it and wrote another. (The original movement later became the Méditation in his Souvenir d’un lieu cher , op. 42.) Orchestration was completed on April 11. Tchaikovsky praised Kotek for his devotion to the new work: “How lovingly he busies him- self with my concerto! It goes without saying that I would have been able to do nothing without him. He plays it marvelously!” In the end, however, Tchaikovsky dedicated the concerto to Leopold Auer, though he refused to perform it, claiming that it was “unviolin- istic”—a situation far too reminiscent of the Piano Concerto No. 1 debacle with Nikolai Rubinstein. Another violinist, Adolf Brodsky, played the premiere. The Violin Concerto in D major, op. 35, dis- plays an uncommon Classical balance in its first few measures. Orchestral tension builds, the violin enters and, after a pause, the full-blooded Romantic first theme is proclaimed. The solo violin introduces a deeply felt second theme. Following the development, there is a sparkling cadenza and a restatement of the main themes. In- spiration for the Canzonetta probably came from Tchaikovsky’s recent trip to Italy. The woodwind opening is succeeded by an em- bellished Italianate violin melody. A second idea weaves a continuous line. The initial vi- olin and wind themes return in reverse order. Without pause, the wildly exuberant Finale follows. An infectious folk-like spontaneity characterizes the violin refrain. Rustic drones accompany a sensuous second theme. The refrain, never far in the background, finally catapults the movement to its conclusion. Theme and Variations from Suite No. 3 in G major, op. 55 Scored for three flutes, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, timpani, harp, and strings Tchaikovsky attended the delayed Moscow premiere of Mazeppa on February 15, 1884. The following day, he departed for Berlin and, Josef Kotek and Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky RAVINIA MAGAZINE • AUGUST 15 – AUGUST 28, 2022 34