The Mentor: Russian Music, Vol. 4, Num. 18, Serial No. 118, November 1, 1916

Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky

FOUR

Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky in the first part of his life held an office in the Ministry of Justice at Petrograd. While he was an excellent amateur performer, he did not think seriously enough of his musical ability to consider music as a career. It was Anton Rubinstein who induced him to take up music as a profession.

Tchaikovsky was born at Votkinsk, Russia, on May 7, 1840. He was the son of a mining engineer, who shortly after Peter was born removed to Petrograd. The boy picked up a smattering of musical knowledge as a law student. Then when he was twenty-two, Rubinstein, the director of the conservatory at Petrograd, persuaded him to enter it as a pupil. Tchaikovsky, therefore, resigned his position in the Ministry of Justice and took up the study of composition, harmony, and counterpoint. Four years later, on leaving the conservatory, he won the prize, a silver medal, for his cantata on Schiller’s “Ode to Joy.”

In 1866 Tchaikovsky became professor of the history and theory of music at the Moscow Conservatory, which had just then been founded by Nicholas Rubinstein, a brother of Anton. For the next twelve years he was practically first chief of this conservatory, since Serov, whom he succeeded, never took up his appointment. While serving in that capacity he wrote text books and made translations of others into Russian.

At Moscow Tchaikovsky met Ostrovsky, who wrote for him his first operatic libretto, “The Voyevoda.” The Russian Musical Society rejected a concert overture by Tchaikovsky, written at the suggestion of Rubinstein. In 1867 Tchaikovsky made an unsuccessful début as a conductor. His star was not yet in the ascendant, for in 1869 his opera, “The Voyevoda,” lived for only ten performances. Tchaikovsky later destroyed the score of this work. The following year his operatic production, “Undine,” was rejected. In 1873, at Moscow, his incidental music to the “Snow Queen” proved a failure. During all this time the composer was busy on a cantata, an opera and a text book of harmony, the last of which was adopted by the authorities of the Moscow Conservatory. He was also music critic for two journals.

Tchaikovsky competed for the best musical setting for Polovsky’s “Wakula the Smith” in a competition, and won the first two prizes. On the production of this in Petrograd, in November, 1876, however, only a small measure of success was gained. A greater success came to the composer with the production of the “Oprischnik.” From 1878 on he devoted himself exclusively to composition.

On July 6, 1877, Tchaikovsky married. It was a most unfortunate match and rapidly developed into a catastrophe. Tchaikovsky had too much temperament – result, many stormy scenes. A separation occurred in October. Tchaikovsky became morose, and finally left Moscow to make his home in Petrograd. He fell ill there and attempted to commit suicide by standing up to his chin in the river during a cold period. He had hoped to die from exposure, but his brother’s tender care saved his life.

Tchaikovsky had begun work on the opera, “Eugen Onegin,” in 1877. This work was produced at the Moscow Conservatory in March, 1879, and it was then that real success first came to him.

In the meanwhile, however, Tchaikovsky went to Clarens to recuperate from his illness. He remained abroad for several months, visiting Italy and Switzerland, and moving restlessly from one place to another.

In 1878 he accepted the post of director of the Russian Musical Department at the Paris Exhibition. He resigned this later on. In 1879 he wrote his “Maid of Orleans,” which was produced in 1880. During the next five years he continued his travels, working all the time at composition. For some time he lived in retirement at Klin, where his generosity to the poor made him much loved. In 1888 and 1889 he appeared at the London Philharmonic concerts. He also visited America, conducting his own compositions in New York City at the opening of Carnegie Hall in 1891. In 1893 Cambridge University made him a doctor of music. In the same year he died from an attack of cholera at Petrograd, on November 6.

RUSSIAN MUSIC

Nicholas Andreievich Rimsky-Korsakov

FIVE

Rimsky-Korsakov was one of the many Russian composers who took up a musical career after a future had been planned along the line of some other work. In his case the Navy lost where music gained. Nicholas Andreievich Rimsky-Korsakov was born March 18, 1844, at Tikhvin, Russia. He had the good fortune to spend his early life in the country, and at the same time to hear from infancy the best music. On the estate of his father were four Jews, who formed a little band. This band supplied music at all social functions that took place at the Korsakov home. He began to study the piano when he was six years old, and three years later he was improvising.

The boy’s parents, although they were glad to have him study music, planned a naval career for him. When he was twelve years old, in 1856, he was sent to the Petrograd Naval College. While studying there, however, he continued his music. In 1861 he began to take his musical studies very seriously. The following year, however, he had to conclude his naval education with a three years’ cruise in foreign waters. When this cruise was over, in 1865, a symphony that he had composed had its first performance. This symphony bears the distinction of being the first musical work in that form by a Russian composer.

In 1866 began Korsakov’s friendship with Moussorgsky, which lasted until the latter’s death in 1881. From then on, for the next few years, he worked hard at musical composition. It was during this time that he first began to turn his attention to opera, of which “Pskovitianka,” begun in 1870, was the first. In 1871 Rimsky-Korsakov was appointed a professor in the Conservatory at Petrograd. Two years later he decided to sever his connection with the Navy altogether. This year also saw the beginning of his collection of folk songs, which were published in 1877. The year before this, Korsakov had married. His wife was Nadejda Pourgold, the talented Russian pianist.

In 1874 the composer was made director of the Free School of Music at Petrograd, which position he filled until 1881. His second opera, “A Night in May,” was finished in 1878. He began another opera, “The Snow Maiden,” two years later. His operas, however, always attracted less attention abroad than his symphonies.

In 1883 he was appointed assistant director of the Imperial Chapel at Petrograd. This post was held by him for eleven years. Two years later he was offered the directorship of the Conservatory in Moscow, but he declined it. In 1886 he became director of the Russian symphony concerts. Three years later he appeared in Paris and conducted two concerts. He was enthusiastically received, and entertained at a banquet.

In 1894 Rimsky-Korsakov gave up the assistant directorship of the Imperial Chapel. He was now at work upon an opera in which the element of humor predominated. This was “Christmas Eve Revels.” It was produced at the Maryinsky Theater in Petrograd in 1895. Korsakov continued to work at opera, producing, among others, “Sadko,” “The Czar’s Betrothed,” “The Tale of Czar Saltan,” “Servilia,” “Kostchei the Deathless,” “Pan Voyvoda,” and “Kitej.” His last opera, “The Golden Cock,” was censored during the interval between its composition and the composer’s death. It was not until May, 1910, that it was produced at Moscow. It is supposed that chagrin at the fate of this opera contributed to the suddenness of Rimsky-Korsakov’s death, which occurred on June 20, 1908.

“In him we see,” says one writer, “the Russian who, though not by any means satisfied with Russia as he finds it, does not set himself to hurl a series of passionate but ineffective indictments against things as they are, but who raises an ideal and does his utmost to show how best that ideal may be attained.”

RUSSIAN MUSIC

Igor Stravinsky

SIX

Igor Stravinsky was a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov. One day the young composer played for his teacher a few bars of the music of one of his ballets. The older man halted him suddenly: “Look here,” said he. “Stop playing that horrid thing; otherwise I might begin to enjoy it!” This ballet was one of the works that made Stravinsky famous. Igor Stravinsky was born on June 17, 1882, at Oranienbaum, near Petrograd, Russia. The date of his birth has been disputed, but this date is the one given by Stravinsky himself. He was the son of Fedor Ignatievich Stravinsky, the celebrated singer who was associated with the Imperial (Maryinsky) Theater in Petrograd. Igor was destined to study law, but at the age of nine he was already giving proofs of a natural musical bent; and in particular he showed an aptitude for piano playing. To the study of this instrument he devoted a great deal of time, under the instruction of a pupil of Rubinstein.

In 1902, when Stravinsky was twenty years old, he met Rimsky-Korsakov at Heidelberg – a meeting which marked an epoch in his life. The older composer had much influence on the career of Stravinsky. Their views on music differed greatly, however.

Stravinsky worked hard. He attended concerts, visited museums and read widely. Rimsky-Korsakov, though alarmed at the revolutionary tendencies of his pupil, predicted for him great success. During the years 1905 and 1906 Stravinsky worked at orchestration. At this time his friends were members of the group surrounding Rimsky-Korsakov, including Glazounov and César-Cui.

On January 11, 1906, Stravinsky married. Soon after his marriage he finished a symphony which was performed in 1907 and was published later. Following this, in 1908, came his “Scherzo Fantastique,” which was inspired by a reading of Maeterlinck’s “Life of the Bee.”

When Rimsky-Korsakov’s daughter was married in 1908 Stravinsky sent his composition, “Fire Works,” a symphonic fantasia, which, curiously, had been submitted for the approval of an English manufacturer of Chinese crackers. However, before the gift arrived by mail Rimsky-Korsakov died. As a tribute to his master’s memory Stravinsky composed the Chant Funèbre.

In 1909 Stravinsky wrote “The Nightingale,” a combination of opera and ballet, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale of the same name. This was produced in 1914.

Then came the discovery of Stravinsky by the director of the Russian ballet, Serge de Diaghileff. The young composer was commissioned to write a ballet on a Russian folk story, the scenario of which was furnished by Michel Fokine. Leon Bakst and Golovine, the scene painters, collaborated with him. This ballet, “The Fire Bird,” was finished on May 18, 1910, and produced three weeks later. This production established Stravinsky’s reputation in Paris.

The second of his ballets, “Petrouschka,” was completed on May 26, 1911. It was first produced in Paris in the same year. The scene of Petrouschka is a carnival. One of the characters is a showman, and in his booth are three animated dolls. In the center is one with pink cheeks and a glassy stare. On one side of this is a fierce negro, and on the other the simple Petrouschka. These three play out a tragedy of love and jealousy, which ends with the shedding of Petrouschka’s vital sawdust. One critic has said: “This ballet is, properly speaking, a travesty of human passion, expressed in terms of puppet gestures and illumined by music as expositor. The carnival music is a sheer joy, and the incidents making a demand upon music as a depictive medium have been treated not merely with marvelous skill, but with unfailing instinct for the true satirical touch. ‘Petrouschka’ is, in fact, the musical presentment of Russian fantastic humor in the second generation.”

“The Crowning of Spring” was composed during the winter of 1912 and 1913, and was produced both in Paris and London during the following spring and summer.

Recently Stravinsky has composed several songs which are done in the same spirit as that in which he wrote his compositions for the orchestra.

RUSSIAN MUSIC

So far as the world at large is concerned, Russian music – which has come so much to the fore in recent years – began with Rubinstein, who lived till 1894. There was, indeed, one other composer of note before him – Glinka – but Glinka’s music, though very popular in Russia, remained almost unknown in other countries, whereas Rubinstein, and, after him, Tchaikovsky (also spelled Tschaikowsky), conquered the whole world.

Folk music, it is needless to say, flourished many centuries before Glinka. Folk tunes are like wild flowers, and in all countries the composers have heard the “call of the wild” and tried to woo these flowers and bring them to their gardens. This is particularly true of Russia, which has an abundance of folk songs that are unsurpassed in beauty and emotional appeal; indeed, Rubinstein and another eminent composer, César Cui (kwee), claim absolute supremacy for their country in the matter of national melodies. The tremendous size of the Empire, including, as it does, one-sixth of all the land on this globe, gives scope for an unparalleled variety of local color in songs, suggesting the great difference in costumes and customs. Asiatic traits are mingled with the European. Many of the songs are sad, as is to be expected in a populace often subjected to barbarian invasions, as well as to domestic tyranny; but perhaps an equal number are merry, with a gaiety as extravagant as the melancholy of the songs that are in the minor mode. As a rule, Russian peasants seem to prefer singing in groups to solo singing. There are many singing games; some of the current songs are of gypsy origin; and we find in the collections of Russian folk music (the best of which have been made by Balakiref and Rimsky-Korsakov) an endless variety, devoted to love, flattery, grief, war, religion, etc. Eugenie Lineff’s “Peasant Songs of Great Russia” (transcribed from phonograms) gives interesting samples and descriptions. Lineff’s choir has been heard in America.

Russian Choirs and Basses

Church music is another branch of the divine art that flourished in Russia before the advent of the great composers. Five centuries ago the court at Moscow already had its church choir, and some of the Czars, including Ivan the Terrible, took a special interest in the musical service. Peter the Great had a private choir which he even took along on his travels.

In 1840, the French composer, Adolphe Charles Adam, on a visit to St. Petersburg (now Petrograd) found that church music was superior to any other kind in Russia. The choir of the Imperial Chapel sang without a conductor and without instrumental support, yet “with a justness of intonation of which one can have no idea.”

A specialty of this choir, which gave it a “sense of peculiar strangeness,” was the presence of bass voices that produced a marvelous effect by doubling the ordinary basses at the interval of an octave below them. These voices, Adam continues, “if heard separately, would be intolerably heavy; when they are heard in the mass the effect is admirable.” He was moved to tears by this choir, “stirred by such emotion as I had never felt before … the most tremendous orchestra in the world could never give rise to this curious sensation, which was entirely different from any that I had supposed it possible for music to convey.”

Similarly impressed was another French composer, Berlioz, when he heard the Imperial Choir sing a motet for eight voices: “Out of the web of harmonies formed by the incredibly intricate interlacing of the parts rose sighs and vague murmurs, such as one sometimes hears in dreams. From time to time came sounds so intense that they resembled human cries, which tortured the mind with the weight of sudden oppression and almost made the heart stop beating. Then the whole thing quieted down, diminishing with divinely slow graduations to a mere breath, as though a choir of angels was leaving the earth and gradually losing itself in the uttermost heights of heaven.”

Italian and French Influences

Like all other European countries, Russia more than a century ago succumbed to the spell of Italian music. Young men were sent to Italy to study the art of song, while famous Italian singers and composers visited Russia and made the public familiar with their tuneful art. It was under the patronage of the Empress Anna that an Italian opera was for the first time performed in the Russian capital, in 1737. She was one of several rulers who deliberately fostered a love of art in the minds of their subjects. Under the Empress Elizabeth music became “a fashionable craze,” and “every great landowner started his private band or choir.” Russia became what it still is – the place where (except in America) traveling artists could reap their richest harvests.

The high salaries paid tempted some of the leading Italian composers, such as Cimarosa (Cheemahrosah), Sarti, and Paisiello (Paheeseello), to make their home for years in Russia, where they composed and produced their operas. Near the end of the eighteenth century French influences also asserted themselves, but the Italians continued to predominate, so that when the Russians themselves – in the reign of Catherine the Great (1761-1796) – took courage and began to compose operas, Italian tunefulness and methods were conspicuous features of them.

Glinka, the Pioneer

The operas of Glinka, as well as those of Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky, betrayed the influence of Italy on Russian music. Though not the first Russian opera composer, Michal Ivanovich Glinka is the first of historic note. Rubinstein goes so far as to claim for him a place among the greatest five of all composers (the others being, in his opinion, Bach, Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin), but this is a ludicrously patriotic exaggeration. His master work is “A Life for the Czar,” which created a new epoch in Russian music. The hero of the plot is a peasant, Soussanin, who, during a war between Poland and Russia, is pressed into service as a guide by a Polish army corps. He saves the Czar by misleading the Poles, and falls a victim to their vengeance. In his autobiography Glinka says: “The scene where Soussanin leads the Poles astray in the forest I read aloud while composing, and entered so completely into the situation of my hero that I used to feel my hair standing on end and cold shivers down my back.” It is under such conditions that master works are created.

Although following the conventional Italian forms, “A Life for the Czar” is in most respects thoroughly Slavic – partly Russian, partly Polish. While composing the score he followed the plan of using the national music of Poland and Russia to contrast the two countries. In some cases he used actual folk tunes, including one he overheard a cab driver sing. In other instances he invented his own melodies, but dyed them in the national colors. As the eminent French composer, Alfred Bruneau (bree´-no), remarked, “by means of a harmony or a simple orchestral touch,” Glinka “could give an air which is apparently as Italian as possiblea penetrating perfume of Russian nationality.” By his utilizing of folk tunes in building up works of art – he did the same thing in his next opera, “Ruslan and Ludmilla” – Glinka entered a path on which most of the Russian composers of his time, and later on, followed his lead; but his influence did not stop there. He was also the pioneer who opened up the road into the dense jungle of discords, unusual scales, and odd rhythms, which have made much of the music by later Russian composers seem as if written according to a new grammar. Furthermore, Rosa Newmarch, who is the best historian in English of Russian opera, writes that “it is impossible not to realize that the fantastic Russian ballets of the present day owe much to Glinka’s first introduction of Eastern dances into ‘Ruslan and Ludmilla’.”

Clearly, Glinka was the father of Russian opera. He wrote some good concert pieces, too.

Rubinstein, the Russian Mendelssohn