marches by Tchaikovsky

[calimac]

This is another placeholder musical post until I can get back to unveiling obscure symphonies.

Lots of composers have written marches. Many of them are pretty grand, including some by Tchaikovsky. But Tchaikovsky was also the master of the cute, light, scintillating march. Everyone knows this one, the March of the Toy Soldiers from The Nutcracker:

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But do you also know these?

Here's the March movement from his lesser-known Symphony No. 2:

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And the strikingly Nutcracker-like (as are other movements of this delightful suite) "Marche miniature" from his even less-known Suite No. 1:

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Comments

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Grand fun!

Thanks for the teabreak entertainment. :o)

[ken-3k.livejournal.com]

Not directly related, but: what I love are the two dances from the two ball scenes in Tchaikovsky's opera "Eugene Onegin." The first, the "Waltz", which takes place in a rustic estate -- the family has money but we're definitely out in the provinces -- puts on slightly mediocre clothes, suitable for the setting. For the second, at a ball in the Imperial capital, Tchaikovsky pulls out all the stops and creates a great show-stopper of a tune, the "Polonaise."

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

If we were to collect all of Tchaikovsky's great show-stopper tunes, we'd be here all day. In that category, I'd rank the Eugene Onegin waltz above the polonaise, but that's just personal taste. My favorite of all Tchaikovsky incidental pieces is ... another march, the Marche Slave or Slavonic March.

[ken-3k.livejournal.com]

How many of those show-stopper tunes are actually from shows? :-) The "Polonaise" is! It's the transition between Act 2 (the duel) and Act 3 (introduction of Prince Gremin's household, and how that leads to the end of the opera). (I suppose technically it's the beginning of Act 3, but current stagings seem to mash 2 & 3 together without intermission.)

What I wanted to get across is how Tchaikovsky uses the different dances to express the difference in social positions between Tatiana's family estate (rustic) and Prince Gremin's.

Apologies for the intrusion of greasepaint.... :-)