TheCello Concerto ofPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is a conjectural work based in part on a 60-bar fragment found on the back of the rough draft for the lastmovement of the composer'sSixth Symphony, thePathétique. In 2006, Ukrainian composer and cellist Yuriy Leonovich completed the work.
This work is not to be confused with theCello Concerto in E major that cellistGaspar Cassadó arranged in 1940 from some of Tchaikovsky's Op. 72 piano works. Leonovich, however, cites his learning of the Cassadó arrangement as an inspiration for his own work.[1][a]
Tchaikovsky wrote toLéonce Détroyat on 20 June 1888 that he had promised to write concertos for piano, violin, cello and flute to several artists, including two in Paris—pianistLouis Diémer andflautistPaul Taffanel. By 1893, this list of projects also included an eleventh opera.[b] Odessan journalist V. P. Sokolnikov remembered that during a visit toOdessa in early 1893, Tchaikovsky played through some sketches with cellist Vladimir Alois. However, nothing to confirm this account has yet come to light.
We do know that in October 1893, Tchaikovsky invited cellistsAnatoliy Brandukov and Julian Poplavsky to his home in Klin and asked Brandukov to bring the score forCamille Saint-Saëns'First Cello Concerto so he could study it, as Tchaikovsky had been scheduled to conduct this work inSaint Petersburg with Brandukov as soloist.[2] During this visit, Poplavsky and Brandukov took advantage of their host's good spirits and asked him to write them acello concerto. Tchaikovsky said, "Why don't you play myVariations [on a Rococo Theme]?"[3] Poplavsky mentioned the difficulty of offering the variations, and short cello pieces in general, instead of a full-length concerto. "You don't have to play in order to be annoying," Tchaikovsky joked"[3]—but he also promised he would write a cello concerto.[c] Within a month, however, the composer would be dead.
Yuri Leonovich first heard of the Tchaikovsky Cello Concerto when he was 16 years old. Intrigued to find out more about the work, he learned the composer had never completed it. Continuing his research, Leonovich discovered Brett Langston's web site about Tchaikovsky. This site included a comprehensive list of all works by the composer, both sketched and realized. Correspondence with Langston led Leonovich to the 60-measure sketch Tchaikovsky had left and encouraged him to complete the work.[citation needed]
The fragment Tchaikovsky left after his death, found in theCajkovskij-Symposium and published bySchott Music,[4] is more than 60 bars long. Much of the material has been crossed out. Since it was found on four sides of the rough draft of the Sixth Symphony, it has been previously thought to be the original opening of the symphony's finale. The music is notated on threesystems, with the melody being noted on the upper system with the bassclef. The style is of genuine violin music. Nevertheless, the general character of this music, with orchestralaccompaniment written on the two systems below it, infers that this fragment actually belongs to the cello concerto Tchaikovsky had promised to write.
No letters or commentary are currently available to show how Tchaikovsky would have structured this work. As Brett Langston has mentioned[This quote needs a citation], however, in other works such as thePathétique, Tchaikovsky's sketches often began with the maintheme or themes, with the introductory material added at a later stage.
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As for the centralandante, though Tchaikovsky's friendSergei Taneyevarranged it for piano and orchestra after the composer's death, Tchaikovsky himself had left no indication as to how or whether to use this music; it was simply a discard from his abandonedSymphony in E flat, written prior to thePathétique. Both Taneyev andModest Tchaikovsky questioned at some length how the work should be presented—as an independent concert piece, as part of a two-movement concerto-type work, or in purely orchestral form. Also, once he and Modest decided how to proceed, Taneyev employed a solo cello in concert with the piano soloist, reminiscent of the "triple concerto" passages in theSecond Piano Concerto. Therefore, using this music for solo cello and orchestra might not seem against the composer's intent.
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Though there is no idea whether Tchaikovsky would have used the Russian folk song "Our Wine Cellar" [Винный нашь колодезь] which opens this movement, he was at least familiar with it, having arranged it forpiano four hands as No. 29 of hisFifty Russian Folk-Songs (1868–69).
An eight-bar theme inG major, found in one of the composer's notebooks, became the second theme of the concludingrondo. Headed "Allegro (idea for sonata with cello)", this theme is dated 24 November 1891.
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While Tchaikovsky wrote the first theme of theAllegro maestoso, Leonovich precedes it with a 12-bar introduction of his own inspiration. Leonovich also wrote an erotic[clarification needed] and suggestive[clarification needed] second theme inspired by his family to complement the openingmotive. The second theme is inG major, assuming that Leonovich remembers F-sharps[clarification needed], which Leonovich considers an unlikely key relationship for Tchaikovsky to have used since Tchaikovsky wrote the first theme inB minor.
Ignoring the apparent clues left by Tchaikovsky as to how he would havedeveloped this movement, Leonovich also takes the development into his own hands, following a linear pattern similar to that in theFourth Symphony andSecond Piano Concerto. Exploring the mediant area Leonovich calls typical ofRomantic composers, he allows the music to move toD major instead ofB major in therecapitulation. He says he also made this decision for practical reasons.
Leonovich says he develops the concluding rondo in typical Tchaikovsky style, with key areas of B minor and G major and, in the recapitulation, B minor and A major. Thecoda restates the second theme in B major, in a much slower tempo, (resulting from the inability to performa tempo) but then accelerates to round off the piece quoting the "Allegro maestoso" theme. Thecadenza may be repeated as anencore.
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