Boris Alexandrovich Tchaikovsky (russian: Бори́с Алекса́ндрович Чайко́вский; 10 September 1925 – 7 February 1996),
PAU, was a Soviet and Russian
composer, born in
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 ...
, whose oeuvre includes orchestral works,
chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small num ...
and
film music
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...
. He is considered as part of the second generation of Russian composers, following in the steps of
Pyotr 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 pop ...
(to whom he was not related
The Boris Tchaikovsky Society
/ref>) and especially Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...
.
He was admired by Dmitri Shostakovich, with whom he studied, who (according to Per Skans in his notes for a recording) suggested in a letter of 1 February 1969 to Isaak Glikman, that "If Barshai's orchestra (the Moscow chamber orchestra
The Moscow Chamber Orchestra (MCO) is a chamber orchestra run under the auspices of the Moscow Philharmonia, a state-run enterprise, formerly under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture (Soviet Union) and now, Ministry of Culture of Russian Fe ...
) makes a guest appearance in Leningrad playing Vainberg's Tenth Symphony and Boris Tchaikovsky's Sinfonietta, you really have to hear them".
Of his larger-scale works almost all have been recorded. Boris Tchaikovsky generally wrote in a tonal style, although he made brief forays into serialism
In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were also ...
.
Selected works
;Stage
* ''The Star'' (Звезда), unfinished opera in three scenes (1949); libretto by David Samoilov after the novel by Emmanuil Kazakevich; Moscow Conservatory diploma-work
; Orchestral
* ''Procession'' (Шествие) (1946)
* Symphony No.1 (1947)
* Fantasia on Russian Folk Themes (Фантазия на русские народные темы) (1950)
* ''Slavic Rhapsody'' (Славянская рапсодия) (1951)
* Symphonietta for string orchestra (1953)
* ''The Murmuring Forest'' Orchestral Suite (1953)
* ''Capriccio on English Themes'' (Каприччио на английские темы) (1954)
* Overture (Увертюра) (1957)
* Symphony No.2 (1967)
* Chamber Symphony (Камерная симфония) for chamber orchestra (1967)
* Theme and Eight Variations (Тема и восемь вариаций) (1973)
* Six Etudes (Шесть этюдов) for string orchestra and organ (1976)
* Symphony No.3 ''"Sevastopol
Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...
"'' (Севастопольская симфония) (1980)
* ''The Winds of Siberia'' (Ветер Сибири), Symphonic Poem (1984)
* Four Preludes (Четыре прелюдии) for chamber orchestra (1984)
* ''The Juvenile'' (Подросток), Poem for orchestra (1984)
* Music for Orchestra (Музыка для оркестра) (1987)
* Symphony with Harp (Симфония с арфой) (1993)
* ''The Bells'' (Колокола), Prelude for orchestra (1996; completed in short score only)
; Concertos
* Concerto for clarinet and chamber orchestra (1957)
* Concerto for cello and orchestra (1964)
* Concerto for violin and orchestra (1969)
* Concerto for piano and orchestra (1971)
; Chamber music
* Piano Trio (1953)
* String Quartet No.1 (1954)
* String Trio (1955)
* Sonata for cello and piano (1957)
* Sonata for violin and piano (1959)
* Suite in D minor for cello solo (1960)
* String Quartet No.2 (1961)
* Piano Quintet (1962)
* ''Partita'' for cello and chamber ensemble (1966)
* String Quartet No.3 (1967)
* String Quartet No.4 (1972)
* String Quartet No.5 (1974)
* String Quartet No.6 (1976)
* Sextet for wind quintet and harp (1990)
;Piano
* ''3 Etudes'' (1935; 1972; 1980)
* ''5 Pieces'' (1935)
* ''5 Preludes'' (1936)
* ''5 Pieces'' (1938)
* Sonata No.1 (1944)
* ''2 Pieces'' (1945)
* Sonatina (1946)
* Sonata No.2 (1952)
* ''8 Children's Pieces'' (Восемь детских пьес) (1952)
* Sonata for two pianos (1973)
* ''Pentatonic'' (Пентатоника), 6 Easy Pieces (1993)
* ''Natural Modes'' (Натуральные лады), 7 Miniatures (1993)
;Vocal
* ''Two Poems by Mikhail Lermontov'' (Два стихотворения М. Ю. Лермонтова) for soprano and piano (1940)
* ''Four Poems by Josef Brodsky'' (Четыре стихотворения И. Бродского) for soprano and piano (1965)
* ''Lyrics of Pushkin'' (Лирика Пушкина), Song Cycle for soprano and piano (1972)
* ''Signs of the Zodiac'' (Знаки Зодиака), Cantata for soprano, harpsichord and string orchestra (1974)
* ''The Last Spring'' (Последняя весна), Song Cycle for mezzo-soprano, flute, clarinet and piano (1980); words by N. Zabolotsky
* ''From Kipling'' (Из Киплинга) for mezzo-soprano and viola (1994)
Film scores
References
Literature
*
External links
The Boris Tchaikovsky Society
— brief biographical information and list of works with discography
*
Boris Tchaikovsky at the Russian film database Kino-Teatr
US Premiere of ''Music for Orchestra'' (1987) on February 24, 2010
by the American Symphony Orchestra
The American Symphony Orchestra is a New York City, New York-based American orchestra founded in 1962 by Leopold Stokowski whose mission is to demystify orchestral music and make it accessible and affordable for all audiences. Leon Botstein is th ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tchaikovsky, Boris
1925 births
1996 deaths
20th-century classical musicians
20th-century composers
20th-century Russian male musicians
Male film score composers
Russian composers
Russian male composers
Soviet film score composers
Soviet male classical composers