PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY 1840 - 1893

VARIATIONS ON A ROCOCO THEME FOR CELLO AND ORCHESTRA Op. 33

Tchaikovsky suffered something of an 'annus horribilis' in 1876 when, at the age of 36, his 'Romeo and Juliet' had been hissed at by an audience in Vienna and at least one critic had written highly unfavourable reviews of his music. Added to this, social pressures were leading him into a contemplation of marriage which in the event was to prove totally disastrous. At the end of this troubled year, Tchaikovsky was inspired to write the 'Variations on a Rococo Theme', a work commissioned by Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, a leading cellist of the day and a colleague in the Moscow Conservatory. Fitzenhagen had already played in the first performances of Tchaikovsky's three string quartets, and it was therefore natural that he should request a small-scale concerto-style work for his own recital tours.

After the first performance Fitzenhagen, to Tchaikovsky's dismay, made substantial alterations to the score, including dropping one of the variations completely and altering the order of the remainder, and although Tchaikovsky ultimately accepted these revisions, it was not without considerable bitterness, and the relationship between the two men never fully recovered.

Though bearing the composer's own stamp, the work actually expresses Tchaikovsky's lifelong admiration for Mozart, being scored for an 18th Century orchestra with the strings augmented by woodwind and horns in pairs. The word 'Rococo' has its origins in architecture but was subsequently borrowed by composers to describe a type of music that is decorative and light in style, providing an alternative to the former period of 'Baroque' music when musical form was more inclined to a larger and more involved construction.

There is a brief orchestral introduction, followed by a statement by the cello of the main theme, which occupies sixteen bars, each half being repeated. Tchaikovsky then adds to the theme an eight bar pendant, or ritornello, consisting of a five-bar phrase for woodwind with a response for strings and solo cello. In the first variation orchestral strings pizzicato give the harmonic outline below a continuous triplet elaboration by the soloist; in the second the interest is more evenly divided between soloist and orchestra, and the third changes both the key and the rhythmic character of the theme which is presented as a waltz, ending with the cello at the upper extremity of its range, surrounded by a transparent tissue of violin and viola harmonics.

Anachonistically, but effectively, the rhythmic pattern of the polka is imposed on the theme in the fourth variation which ends with spectacular demisemiquaver runs and repeated notes in the cello part, ranging over nearly five octaves. The flute is prominent in variation five, whilst in the penultimate variation the solo instrument is again in the foreground with a minor version of the theme, accompanied by pizzicato strings using a fresh rhythmic figure.

The final variation is more extended than the others, and in style resembles a pre-Chopin polonaise, though in duple time. From the material of the refrain is evolved a coda, whose main interest lies in the orchestral part, while the cello surpasses itself with arpeggios, double-stopping, trills, broken octaves, and other virtuostic feats leading to a dazzling close.