Angel Petrossian
MUSC 1010
Introduction to Music
Music 1010 PresentationPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky(1840-1893)
Biblioraphy
Born: May 7,1840
Votkinsk, Russia
First instrument at Age 5, Piano
Married 1877 to Antonina Miliukova
Died: November 6, 1893
St. Petersburg, Russia
Tchaikovsky andwife Antonina
Early Life
His father was an engineer and posted aslieutenant colonel in the department of mines
His mother was Alexamdra Amdreuevna, hewas very devoted to his mother
Educated by a French governess
Attended law school in St Petersburg
He took music and composing classes
His music
His first Symphony “Winter Daydreams”
Three Piano Concertos
Violin Concerto
1812 Overture
Opera: Eugene Onegin, The Queen of Spades
Ballet: Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker
Romeo and Juliet
Tchaikovsky’s Contributions
With his music he wanted people to feelemotions.
He wrote
7 Symphonies
11 Operas
3 Piano Concertos
5 suites
11 Overtures
3 Ballets
Who influenced Tchaikovsky
He was interested in music from young age
Played piano on a keyboard called Orchestrina
Had local tutors for music
During teenage years, he was taught by RudoophKundinger
Singing teacher , Luigi Piccioli
He was a student at Russian Musical Society and StPetersburg Conservatory
Anton Rubinstein and Nikolay Zaremba
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Brahms
History of 1812 Overture
The idea of this piece came from NikolaiRubinstein in 1880
This piece represents the events thathappened in the war of 1812
Estimated over 100,000 lost their lives
Neither side won, but the Russians drove theFrench out of their land
Tchaikovsky wrote the 1812 Overture to tell astory of How the Russian Soldiers and peoplefaced many challenges during the invasion.
Tchikovsky was so emotionally moved by thebravery of the Russian people and how thedefended Russia’s Capital against the Frencharmy, that he tried to describe the events in the1812 Overture.
Listening Guide
•0:00-1:00; introduction, section A starts in theE Flat Major, slow tempo, violins are heard atslow crescendo with mezzo-pianno. At 0:52 orthere abouts strings continue slow melodicmelody and have the volume of piano
•1:00-1:20; Wind instruments enter as well asthe hymn “God preserve thy people”
•1:30-2:00 new section with wood wind, flutes,where they match mezzo level with strings.
•2:00 Section B starts, with oboe solo in Cminor with strings
•2:20 Flutes join the oboe solo
•2:30-3:00, there is a crescendo into thestrings, Cello and bass instruments
•3:12-3:40 French horns, trommbones
•3:41-4:00 the melody is played by strings suchas violins, cellos and violas, the sound buildsup as if there were urgency in the tempo
•4:00-4:30 Trumpet is slowly gaining vloume,and also there are strings that are re-introduced
•4:30- 5:40; the trumpet and bass fade awayand there is about 10 seconds of silencewhere the strings burst back into the music.There is a brass section, with trombone,French horns and it leads into a decent
•5:30-6:00the brass still holding, the bass andtrumpets with what seems to be a frantictempo. The tempo keeps the fast pace andaccented by the percussion
•6:00-7:00 Bass drums accent to hard hittingnotes, the brass and strings play the melody,we hear the oboe, English horn countering themelody
•7:00-7:06 is melody played and continuedwith the flutes
•7:21 French National Anthem is played withthe bassoon still in the background the tempocontinues to slow down till about min 8:00
•8:00 hear some tubas and the strings faintlyplaying
•8:00-9:00 Slow tune, continue with sorrow fulltune in pianissimo level with strings
•9:00- 10:00 we hear the return of violins andtrumpet with the rising of tempo and volume,drums enter and the energy continues tobuild. The energy keeps building with cymbalsand drums.
•10:00-11:00 brass being used in the melody,with descending scales into silence. Yet inbackground you can hear the melody by thestrings
•11:00-12:25 strings following still in the slowmood as they ascend to a faster tempo. Brassis re entered in, we also have the chorus, theRussian religious hymn.
•12:00-15:08 we have the strings and Cannonsand bells that play in a ascending tone andlots of energy, we also hear brass andpercussions, it almost feels as if they arecelebrating the victory over the French army.
Some explanations
Tchaikovsky used the national Anthems foreach country to represent each nation in hismusic
He also used Russian Church music and Folksongs
In the introduction of the movement to recallthe Russians prayers for saftey he uses Cellosand violans with a slow tempo to portray theRussian peoples emotions.
Snare Drums were used to represent theapproaching army, and the strings play backand forth just to give us the feelings of themilitary advancing
When the full orchestra participates it bringsthe besion of the full battle in its highesmoments.
The brass instruments play the Powerful burstof French national anthem giving us thenotions that the French are winning