Tchaikovsky and His Contemporaries

Alexandar Mihailovic

Commemorating the centenary of Tchaikovsky's death, these essays reassess the life and work of the composer from a variety of perspectives, ranging from the musicological and biographical to broader ones addressing his place in the development of the arts in Europe and America. As they make clear, there is much about Tchaikovsky's achievement that has been taken for granted, and the essays included in this collection represent as much acts of reevaluation as of celebration.After a broad synthesis of Tchaikovsky's relation to the literature, music, and theater of the 18th and 19th centuries, there are sections devoted to Tchaikovsky and his musical contemporaries; Tchaikovsky's lost opera, The Oprichnik; Tchaikovsky's mature operatic work; his place in Russian Orthodoxy and nationalism; and contemporary perspectives on his life and works. The volume concludes with discussions on Tchaikovsky scholarship, the place of the composer in American and Russian musical education, and the interpretation and performance of his ballets. It is an important collection for scholars and other researchers involved in Russian music and ballet.

Introduction: Tchaikovsky as Our Contemporary by Alexandar MihailovicChanging Perspectives on the ComposerTchaikovsky: A New View--A Centennial Essay by Richard TaruskinTchaikovsky and His Music in Anglo-American Criticism, 1890s-1950s by Malcolm Hamrick BrownThe Tchaikovsky Myths: A Critical Reassessment by Alexander PoznanskyTchaikovsky and His Musical ContemporariesTchaikovsky and Wagner: A Reassessment by Rosamund BartlettAnalysis and Influence: A Comparison of Rhythmic Structures in the Instrumental Music of Schumann and Tchaikovsky by Joseph C. KrausTruth vs. Beauty: Comparative Text Settings by Musorgsky and Tchaikovsky by Leslie KearneyThe Oprichnik: Tchaikovsky's "Lost" OperaCulture and Nationalism: Tchaikovsky's Visions of Russia in The Oprichink by Susan Beam EggersThe Intrigue of Love and Illusion in Tchaikovsky's The Oprichink by Anne SwartzThe Mature Operatic ComposerTchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin: Tatiana and Lensky, the Third Couple by Truman Bullard"But Was My Eugene Happy?": Musical and Dramatic Tensions in Eugene Onegin by Byron NelsonMusical Historicism in The Queen of Spades by James ParakilasTchaikovsky, Russian Orthodoxy, and NationalismTchaikovsky's Roots in the Russian Choral Tradition by Olga DolskayaA Stranger in a Strange Land: Tchaikovsky as a Composer of Church Music by Vladimir MorosanTchaikovsky, the Tsars, and the Tsarist National Anthem by William H. ParsonsOther Perspectives, Contemporary and ModernTchaikovsky: The Love that Dare Not Speak Its Name by Samuel LipmanThe Image of the Composer in Modest Tchaikovsky's Play The Symphony by Stephany GouldExploding the Romantic Myth: Ken Russell's The Music Lovers by James H. KrukonesRound-Table DiscussionsBiographical Issues in Tchaikovsky Scholarship, Moderated by John MarcusTchaikovsky in American and Russian Musical Education, Moderated by Joel SachsTchaikovsky's Ballets: Interpretation and Performance, Moderated by Jeanne FuchsAppendix I: Musical ExamplesAppendix II: Conference ProgramIndex