Subscription Concerts 2024-2025Program C
No. 2018 Subscription (Program C)

At the forefront of Russian Romanticism, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) is well-known for his innate good sense of melody writing and his style deeply rooted in the Western, European tradition. He especially worshiped Mozart (1756–1791), since the former in his childhood heard excerpts from the Austrian genius’ opera Don Giovanni on an “orchestrion” (highly sophisticated music box) at home. To commemorate the 100th anniversary since the opera’s 1787 premiere, Tchaikovsky’s Orchestral Suite No. 4 Mozartiana was first performed in 1887. The devotee even translated into Russian the recitatives of Mozart’s other opera The Marriage of Figaro.
Composed for solo cello and a compact orchestra, Tchaikovsky’s single-movement Variations on a Rococo Theme is a tribute to Mozart and his Rococo style (characterized by an abundance of ornament, often curvy, this elegant style was popular in the 18th century in various art). The work was premiered in 1877 in Moscow by the German cellist and teacher Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, the composer’s colleague at the Moscow Conservatory. For this occasion, the cellist reworked Tchaikovsky’s original score for effect (even reordering the variations and omitting one): this version, widely-known among audiences and performers, will be used in today’s concert as well.
After the brief orchestral introduction, the solo cello introduces the light-hearted, graceful theme in “Moderato semplice” (at a moderate tempo and in a simple manner). This tune written by Tchaikovsky himself in the Rococo style, is followed by the seven variations and the brilliant coda.

[Kumiko Nishi]

Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) attained immortal fame with his three ballets. Whilst The Sleeping Beauty (1890) and The Nutcracker (1892) were successively penned and premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg in Tchaikovsky’s closing years, The Swan Lake (1877) was born more than a decade earlier to be first staged at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. The reason why the Bolshoi picked the composer up for the project is obscure. In all cases, he suffered a bitter experience at the premiere with his music being treated disrespectfully and executed without sufficient preparations. It was only after his sudden death that The Swan Lake became an essential repertoire of dance companies throughout the world, which was ushered by the historical 1894/1895 revival performances choreographed by Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa.
Today’s program consists of numbers excerpted by our conductor Tadaaki Otaka. Arranged so as to follow the plot’s flow, they digest Tchaikovsky’s eventful score in an exquisite balance. The heavy-hearted Introduction foretells the fate of the protagonists. [Act I] In a palace garden, the Prince Siegfried’s coming-of-age party is livened up by peasant girls’ dance (Waltz). Now by a lake at night, [Act II] gives the celebrated sorrowful Swan Theme sung by an oboe over a harp and strings (Scene), before Siegfried sees a white swan turn into the human Princess Odette: they fall in love with each other. Her swan friends also transform themselves into human maidens to dance (Dances of the Swans). [Act III] takes place at the opulent palace ballroom where colorful Hungarian, Spanish, Neapolitan and Polish (Mazurka) Dances are heard, before Siegfried vows eternal love to Odile, the daughter of the evil magician Rothbart, mistaking her for Odette because of Rothbart’s sorcery. [Act IV] By the lake at night, Odette’s swan friends are consoling her in despair. A storm comes on. Siegfried joins Odette to ask for forgiveness. The young lovers drown themselves in the lake so their souls will be united forever (Scene and Finale).

[Kumiko Nishi]