Tchaikovsky

Week 8: Final Years

John Gibbons — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:12:19 +0000

The circumstances of Tchaikovsky’s death. Featured work: Symphony No. 6, Pathetique.

Week 7: The Sovereign Ballet Composer

John Gibbons — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:11:11 +0000

The sovereign ballet composer: musical analysis & DVD of Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Romeo & Juliet.

Week 6: International Master

John Gibbons — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:10:40 +0000

Tchaikovsky the international master. The Imperial Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky vis a vis Brahms, Wagner. Featured works: Second Piano Concerto, Fifth Symphony, Piano trio, Violin Concerto.

Week 5: Tchaikovsky's Operatic Style

John Gibbons — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:08:38 +0000

Tchaikovsky as an opera composer, Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky and Slavic nationalism. Tchaikovsky and Italian and French models. An overview of the operas concentrating on Mazeppa and Pique Dame.

Week 4: Antonina and Nadezhda

John Gibbons — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:06:50 +0000

Tchaikovsky’s disastrous marriage to Antonina Milyukova. His patroness, Nadezhda von Meck. Fourth Symphony, Eugene Onegin (opera), Choral work, Liturgy of St. John Christotam.

Week 3: Tchaikovsky's Orchestral Style

John Gibbons — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:02:12 +0000

Tchaikovsky’s orchestral Style. Featured works: The Four Suites, Hamlet, Manfred Symphony.

Week 2: Established in Moscow

John Gibbons — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:00:15 +0000

Tchaikovsky as professor in Moscow. Tchaikovsky’s social circle. Featured works: Second Symphony, First Piano Concerto, The Tempest.

Week 1: Formative Years

John Gibbons — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:58:37 +0000

Tchaikovsky at the School of Jurisprudence and the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Anton and Nikolai Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky and Balakirev. Featured: 1st Symphony, 1st String Quartet, Romeo & Juliet.

Interactive Web Sites

John Gibbons — Sat, 30 May 2009 18:37:32 +0000

From the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Beyond the Score to Michael Tilson Thomas Keeping Score program, these resources combine musical performance with biography to put Tchaikovsky’s music in historical context.