History
Tchaikovsky wrote to Léonce 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—pianist Louis Diémer and flautist Claude-Paul Taffanel. By 1893, this list of projects also included an eleventh opera. Odessan journalist V. P. Sokol'nikov remembered that during a visit to Odessa 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 cellists Anatoliy Brandukov and Julian Poplavsky to his home in Klin and asked Brandukov to bring the score for Camille Saint-Saëns' First Cello Concerto so he could study it, as Tchaikovsky had been scheduled to conduct this work in Saint Petersburg with Brandukov as soloist. During this visit, Poplavsky and Brandukov took advantage of their host's good spirits and asked him to write them a cello concerto. Tchaikovsky said, "Why don't you play my Variations ?" 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"—but he also promised he would write a cello concerto. 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.
Read more about this topic: Cello Concerto (Tchaikovsky)
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