During his time at the

Moscow Conservatoire The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...

around September 1866, the school's principal, Nikolay Rubinstein commissioned

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

to compose a ''Festival Overture on the Danish National Anthem'' to be played for the visit of the

Tsarevich Tsarevich (russian: Царевич, ) is a Slavic title given to tsars' sons. Under the 1797 Pauline house law, the title was discontinued and replaced with ''Tsesarevich'' for the heir apparent alone. His younger brothers were called '' Veli ...

(heir to the throne) to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, accompanied by his new Danish bride,

Princess Dagmar of Denmark Princess Dagmar of Denmark (''Dagmar Louise Elisabeth''; 23 May 1890 – 11 October 1961) was a member of the Danish royal family. She was the youngest child and fourth daughter of Frederick VIII of Denmark and his wife, Princess Louise of Sw ...

. The Tsarrevich would eventually be crowned

Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...

Alexander III of Russia Alexander III ( rus, Алекса́ндр III Алекса́ндрович, r=Aleksandr III Aleksandrovich; 10 March 18451 November 1894) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland from 13 March 1881 until his death in 18 ...

and remain a devoted follower of Tchaikovsky's music, awarding the composer both the Order of St. Vladimir (Fourth Class) in 1884 and a state pension in 1885. Tchaikovsky often set about functional commissions with a strong air of professionalism, knowing that the piece may only even be played once, and this work was no exception. Indeed, Tchaikovsky himself wrote at the end of his life that this piece was 'very effective... and far better as music than ''

1812 Events January–March * January 1 – The ''Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch'' (the Austrian civil code) enters into force in the Austrian Empire. * January 19 – Peninsular War: The French-held fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo is st ...

. Tchaikovsky thought that it would be a good idea to incorporate the Russian national anthem's melody into the work as well, by way of symbolising the union of two realms, but this innocent venture ultimately led to the piece's downfall and to the cancellation of the official performance. A piece of surviving journalism states, 'Our talented young composer for some reason took it into his head to set forth our Russian national anthem in the minor key, which completely transforms the character of this well-known melody.' However, Tchaikovsky received a gift of gold cuff links from the Tsarevich as an expression of royal gratitude for his efforts anyway.

References

''Cited from David Brown's "Tchaikovsky: The Man and His Music"''

External links

Tchaikovsky Research
{{Authority control Compositions by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Concert overtures 1866 compositions

See also

References

External links