Tchaikovsky: 12 Pièces, Op. 40: VII. Au village. Andante sostenuto. (A minor–C major)

Full Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLehSPRsBkJ8GiO0z9bqQ9kw83gAN0U7Fx

Tchaikovsky
(1878)
12 pièces de difficulté moyenne pour piano, op. 40
Двенадцать пьес, соч. 40

Piano: Michael ponti

01.Etude.
Allegro giusto (G major)
https://youtu.be/YxRc8QUgG_g
02.Chanson triste.
Allegro non troppo (G minor)
https://youtu.be/W9544Q5CrtY
03.Marche funèbre.
Tempo di Marcia funebre (C minor)
https://youtu.be/jCeVkohwTlo
04.Mazurka.
Tempo di Mazurka (C major)
https://youtu.be/p1QU1UeCcCg
05.Mazurka.
Tempo di Mazurka (D major)
https://youtu.be/m5a5-QsUs3w
06.Chant sans paroles.
Allegro moderato. (A minor)
https://youtu.be/NVp8uRn1cUQ
07.Au village.
Andante sostenuto. (A minor–C major)
https://youtu.be/qHeRBc5kCiE
08.Valse.
Tempo di Valse (A♭ major)
https://youtu.be/ISoM54xaYYM
09.Valse.
Tempo di Valse (F♯ minor)
https://youtu.be/5aq088ln_Mw
10.Danse Russe.
Andantino (A minor)
https://youtu.be/L8F9J9oboO0
11.Scherzo.
Allegro vivacissimo (D minor)
https://youtu.be/GYutc_uoWIo
12.Rêverie interrompue.
Andante un poco rubato e con molto espressione (A♭ major)
https://youtu.be/1KHBABAfDLU

A performance of the complete set lasts around 45 to 50 minutes.

Composition:

"I have decided that each morning I shall write something new. Yesterday I wrote a romance, and today a piano piece", Tchaikovsky wrote to Nadezhda von Meck from Florence on 12/24 February 1878. The result of this decision was the composition of twelve piano pieces of moderate difficulty.

Tchaikovsky referred to the piece Rêverie interrompue (No. 12) in another letter of 13/25 February 1878. For its middle section the composer used a song which he heard through his window in Venice sung by a single street-singer.

While travelling from Florence to Clarens (Switzerland), the composer continued work on the piano pieces. The next reference to the piano pieces was on 28 February/12 March 1878 in a letter to Anatoly Tchaikovsky. By mid/late March he had already completed seven pieces. At the same time Tchaikovsky was working on the Violin Concerto and the Grand Sonata in G major. The sketches for the pieces were completed at Kamenka in April. "The 12 pieces of moderate difficulty for solo piano are ready—but of course, only in draft". The copying out of the pieces was accomplished by 13/25 July.

An variant of the Valse in F-sharp minor (No. 9) was written on 4/16 June 1878 in Sergey Taneyev's notebook (according to the author's date)


Publication:

On 29 July/10 August the composer sent the pieces to his publisher in Moscow, together with a number of other completed works (the Grand Sonata in G major, the Children's Album, the Six Romances, Op. 38, and the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom). While preparing the pieces for publication, Tchaikovsky asked Pyotr Jurgenson to: "ask Taneyev to play through these pieces, and correct any mistakes he might find". The proofs were corrected by Nikolay Kashkin, although Tchaikovsky himself also reviewed them. The set was published by Pyotr Jurgenson in 1879.

The Twelve Pieces were published in volume 52 of Tchaikovsky's Complete Collected Works (1948), with the variant of the Valse (No. 9) appearing in an appendix to volume 53 of the same series (1949), both edited by Anatoly Drozdov.

In 2008 the set was included in volume 69a of the New Complete Edition of Tchaikovsky's works, edited by Polina Vaidman and Lyudmila Korabelnikova.

Tchaikovsky's manuscript score containing all twelve pieces is now preserved in the Russian National Museum of Music in Moscow (ф. 88, No. 115)

The pieces are dedicated to Modest Tchaikovsky. The manuscript score carries no dedication, but his name appeared on the first edition at the author's request.