Mozartiana

Tchaikovsky’s life hinged on strongly held beliefs and an emotional nature. Moreover, he was not reticent to express opinions about other composers, past and present. Beethoven bothered him, Wagner left him feeling so-so, at best. Above all, he venerated Mozart as a kind of musical god. Hearing Don Giovanni live for the first time at the impressionable age of 16 was a defining moment. Music, Mozart’s music in particular, helped fill an enormous void in Tchaikovsky’s life caused his mother’s death in 1854. His own compositional efforts seem to have begun as a means of coping with her absence and his first maturity.
Some thirty years later, at the height of his fame (having been honored in person by Tsar Alexander III), he turned back to Mozart to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of Don Giovanni (1787). For this Mozartiana suite he selected four compositions by his revered idol and set to work orchestrating them during a short summer holiday in southern Russia. It was premiered, with Tchaikovsky himself conducting, in November 1887. The first movement, Gigue, is founded on Mozart’s K. 574 Gigue in G Major, heard earlier tonight. In truth, Mozart offers more than foundation, for all the movements are little more than orchestral versions of Mozart’s selected works, which, in addition to the Gigue, include the Minuet in D (K. 355), the motet Ave verum corpus (also heard earlier), and lastly Mozart’s Theme and Ten Variations on a melody by Gluck (K. 455). Considering Tchaikovsky’s veneration of Mozart and his decision to subject classical works to extravagant, 19th-century orchestral effects, some critics see the literalness of his transcription as being—at best—in bad taste, or—at worst—an act of sacrilege. The Russian composer provides delightful color, but his source material is certainly not “lost in translation.”

(c) Jason Stell