Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto

Classical Music Datebook / Violin Concerto


The Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 was the only concerto for violin composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1878 and is one of the best-known violin concertos. 

 

Instrumentation:  The concerto is scored for solo violin, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in A and B-flat, two bassoons, four horns in F, two trumpets in D, timpani and strings. 

 

Form: The piece is in three movements:

1. Allegro moderato (D major)
2. Canzonetta: Andante (³
   ₄, G minor)
3. Finale: Allegro vivacissimo (²
   ₄, D major)

The second and third movements are played attacca, with no break between them. A typical performance runs approximately 35 minutes.  

My all time favourite interpretation is one performed by the great violinist Jascha Heifetz, with John Barbirolli conducting the London Philharmonic, recorded March 25, 1937 - here.   

Video: Violinist Joshua Bell interprets Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major, Op 35. (YouTube, uploaded by Classical Vault 1. Accessed  April 2, 2020.) 1. Allegro moderato 2. Canzonetta: Andante 3. Finale. Allegro vivacissimo. National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, Valery Gergiev, conducting.

Bit of history of this violin concerto: Tchaikovsky wrote this Violin Concerto in March 1878  amid the breathtaking mountains of Clarens, Switzerland on Lake Geneva. The work was spurred by a visit from the violinist Iosif Kotek, who had been asking Tchaikovsky for a violin concerto for some time. After playing through Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole together, Tchaikovsky’s imagination was fired with ideas. However, the concerto had a hard time getting accepted. Tchaikovsky wanted to dedicate it to Kotek who would play the premiere performance, but Kotek didn't like it. Tchaikovsky then chose violinist Leopold Auer, but Auer didn't like it either, and declined. It was eventually dedicated to Adolf Brodsky who was soloist at its premiere on December 4, 1881 in Vienna, under the baton of Hans Richter.  The Austrian critic Eduard Hanslick coated and tarred it with a humiliating review. Well, history has proven Kotek, Auer and Hanslick wrong... as Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, to this day, is well-loved and a famous violin masterpiece.     

 

 

 

Resource:

 

Violin Concerto (Tchaikovsky).  en.wikipedia.org. Accessed April 2, 2020.

 

 

 

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