Tchaikovsky: Six Pieces, Op. 19
(1872)
IV. Nocturne. Andante sentimentale (C-sharp minor)
The Six Pieces (Six Morceaux) for solo piano, Op. 19 (TH 133 ; ČW 112 to 117), were completed by Tchaikovsky in the autumn of 1873 in Moscow.
A complete performance lasts around 30 minutes.
Composition:
The set was commissioned by the publisher Pyotr Jurgenson, but their exact dates of origin are uncertain. The completed manuscript is dated 27 October/8 November 1873, but rough sketches for the Nocturne (No. 4) and Capriccioso (No. 5) appear in the same copybook as sketches for the opera Vakula the Smith (1874), the String Quartet No. 2 (1874), and the Six Pieces on a Single Theme, Op. 21 (autumn 1873), suggesting that some of the Op. 19 pieces could have been written during the summer of 1873 at Kamenka.
Arrangements:
In 1888 Tchaikovsky made an arrangement for cello with small orchestra of the Nocturne (No. 4) for Anatoly Brandukov, from a transcription for Wilhelm Fitzenhagen.
Performances:
Rêverie du soir (No. 1) was performed for the first time by Nikolay Rubinstein in the presence of the author at a concert in Moscow on 22 February/6 March 1874.
Thème original et variations (No. 6) is known to have been performed by Hans von Bülow in Moscow in April 1874, and again at the St. James's Hall in London on 7/19 November the same year, representing the earliest-known performance of any of Tchaikovsky's works outside Russia.
Publication:
Published by Pyotr Jurgenson in January 1874 as separate numbers, and in May 1874 as a single volume.
The set was included in volume 51Б of Tchaikovsky's Complete Collected Works (1946), edited by Ivan Shishov.
Autographs:
Tchaikovsky's manuscript score of the complete set is now preserved in the Russian National Museum of Music in Moscow (ф. 88, No. 111).
Dedications:
Each piece is dedicated to a different person:
Rêverie du soir (No. 1) is dedicated to Nikolay Kondratyev
Scherzo humoristique (No. 2) is dedicated to Vera Timanova
Feuillet d'album (No. 3) is dedicated to Anna Avramova
Nocturne (No. 4) is dedicated to Monika Terminskaya
Capriccioso (No. 5) is dedicated to Eduard Langer
Thème original et variations (No. 6) is dedicated to Herman Laroche
Related Works:
In his diary entry for 11/23 July 1873, Tchaikovsky noted down themes for a projected Symphony in B-flat major, which he went on to use in the Capriccioso (No. 5).
