Tchaikovsky's Mozartiana - Orchestral Suite No. 4

Orchestral Music

Tchaikovsky's Orchestral Suite No. 4, Op. 61, more commonly known as Mozartiana, is an orchestral suite by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, written in 1887 as a tribute to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on the 100th anniversary of his idolised composer's opera Don Giovanni. Because this suite consists of four orchestrations of piano pieces by (or in one case, based on) Mozart, Tchaikovsky did not number this suite with his previous three suites for orchestra. Instead, he considered it a separate work entitled Mozartiana. Nevertheless, it is usually counted as No. 4 of his orchestral suites.

Tchaikovsky conducted the premiere himself, in Moscow in November 1887. It was the only one of his suites he conducted, and only the second at whose premiere he was present.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky regarded Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as his musical god. He had always held Don Giovanni, one of Mozart's famous operas in greatest awe.  Therefore it's not surprising at all that the great Tchaikovsky's treatment of Mozart's work for this piece was both faithful and affectionate. In other words, he was inspired by Mozart to comcpose this piece, in particular of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Tchaikovsky wrote his 'Mozartiana' in 1887, exactly 100 years after the great Mozart opera made its debut.  He took the music as it stood and endeavoured to present it in the best possible light—this is, in late 19th-century guise. His intent was to win greater appreciation among his contemporaries for Mozart's lesser known works.  

Below, is Tchaikovsky's Mozartiana,  Suite No. 4, Op. 61 "Mozartiana" (1887), shared in hope that the piece is simply listened to, enjoyed, without worrying too much about analysis. (Uploaded by Bartje Bartmans. Accessed May 14, 2018.)


Mozartiana is in four movements and lasts approximately 20 minutes.

1. Gigue. Allegro (G major).  After the Little Gigue for piano, K. 574.
2. Menuet. Moderato (D major).  After the Minuet for piano, K. 355.
3. Preghiera. Andante ma non tanto (B♭ major).  After Franz Liszt's piano transcription of the Ave verum corpus, K. 618. (In 1862 Liszt wrote a piano transcription combining Gregorio Allegri's Miserere and Mozart's Ave verum corpus, published as "À la Chapelle Sixtine" (S.461). Tchaikovsky orchestrated only the part of this work that had been based on Mozart.)
4. Thème et variations. Allegro giusto (G major).  After the piano Variations on a Theme by Gluck, K. 455. (The theme was the aria "Unser dummer Pöbel meint", from Gluck's opera La Rencontre imprévue, ou Les Pèlerins de la Mecque).

This suite is scored for pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons and trumpets, four horns, timpani, cymbals, glockenspiel, harp and strings.

George Balanchine's 1981 ballet Mozartiana is set to Tchaikovsky's work. 



Resource:

Orchestral Suite No. 4 Mozartiana (Tchaikovsky). Wikipedia. Accessed May 14, 2018.



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