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Tchaikovsky and His World
This chapter is in the book Tchaikovsky and His World
Nikolai Kashkin's Review of The Maid of Orleans [1899] TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN BY MARINA KOSTALEVSKY, NOTES AND COMMENTARY BY LESLIE KEARNEY Tchaikovsky began his fifth opera, The Maid of Orleans, late in 1878, completing it early the following year. The libretto is self-composed, drawn chiefly from material found in Friedrich Schiller's play Die Jungfrau von Orleans (1801), which Zhukovsky had translated into Russian on the recommendation of Turgenev, who had seen the play in Leipzig in 1802. Tchaikovsky also consulted Auguste Mermet's opera, Jeanne a'Arc (1876), Jules Barbier's play by the same name (1869, 1874), and historical studies by Jules Michelet and Henri Wallon.1 The opera premiered in Petersburg on 13 February 1881 at the Mariinsky Theater, Eduard Napravnik conducting. On this occa-sion the role of Joan was played by M. D. Kamenskaia, a mezzo-soprano with an especially rich low register and endowed with great musicality and artistry. To accommodate and enhance her range, Tchaikovsky transposed certain passages in the opera, notably in the two interactions with Lionel (Act III, No. 17 and Act IV, No. 22). Reporting on the premiere to his benefactress, Nadezhda von Meek, he wrote that "Kamenskaia was transcendent: she was even more excellent than she had ever been before" (16 February 1881). In spite of uninspiring costumes and decor that in no way represented the his-torical epoch, the public had a favorable response to the opera. Tchaikovsky notes that "My opera was a great success, I was called out twenty-four times."2 The approbation was not shared by the critics, who were almost unanimously unimpressed; this was most vehe-mently expressed by Cesar Cui, who called the opera "a weak work of a fine and gifted musician, ordinary, monotonous, dull, and long ..., • 234 ·

Nikolai Kashkin's Review of The Maid of Orleans [1899] TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN BY MARINA KOSTALEVSKY, NOTES AND COMMENTARY BY LESLIE KEARNEY Tchaikovsky began his fifth opera, The Maid of Orleans, late in 1878, completing it early the following year. The libretto is self-composed, drawn chiefly from material found in Friedrich Schiller's play Die Jungfrau von Orleans (1801), which Zhukovsky had translated into Russian on the recommendation of Turgenev, who had seen the play in Leipzig in 1802. Tchaikovsky also consulted Auguste Mermet's opera, Jeanne a'Arc (1876), Jules Barbier's play by the same name (1869, 1874), and historical studies by Jules Michelet and Henri Wallon.1 The opera premiered in Petersburg on 13 February 1881 at the Mariinsky Theater, Eduard Napravnik conducting. On this occa-sion the role of Joan was played by M. D. Kamenskaia, a mezzo-soprano with an especially rich low register and endowed with great musicality and artistry. To accommodate and enhance her range, Tchaikovsky transposed certain passages in the opera, notably in the two interactions with Lionel (Act III, No. 17 and Act IV, No. 22). Reporting on the premiere to his benefactress, Nadezhda von Meek, he wrote that "Kamenskaia was transcendent: she was even more excellent than she had ever been before" (16 February 1881). In spite of uninspiring costumes and decor that in no way represented the his-torical epoch, the public had a favorable response to the opera. Tchaikovsky notes that "My opera was a great success, I was called out twenty-four times."2 The approbation was not shared by the critics, who were almost unanimously unimpressed; this was most vehe-mently expressed by Cesar Cui, who called the opera "a weak work of a fine and gifted musician, ordinary, monotonous, dull, and long ..., • 234 ·

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. Acknowledgments ix
  4. Permissions x
  5. Preface xi
  6. PART I. BIOGRAPHICAL WORKS
  7. Tchaikovsky: A Life Reconsidered 3
  8. Unknown Tchaikovsky: A Reconstruction of Previously Censored Letters to His Brothers (1875-1879) 55
  9. PART II. ESSAYS
  10. Music as the Language of Psychological Realism: Tchaikovsky and Russian Art 99
  11. Line of Succession: Three Productions of Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty 145
  12. Per Aspera Ad Astra: Symphonic Tradition in Tchaikovsky's First Suite for Orchestra 163
  13. An Examination of Problem History in Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony 197
  14. Tchaikovsky's Tatiana 216
  15. Review of The Maid of Orleans [ 1899] 234
  16. Tchaikovsky Androgyne: The Maid of Orleans 239
  17. The Coronation of Alexander III 277
  18. Tchaikovsky, Chekhov, and the Russian Elegy 300
  19. Tchaikovsky and the Russian "Silver Age" 319
  20. PART III. THEORETICAL WRITINGS
  21. A Documentary Glance at Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov as Music Theorists 333
  22. Index 355
  23. List of Contributors 367
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400864881.234

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. Acknowledgments ix
  4. Permissions x
  5. Preface xi
  6. PART I. BIOGRAPHICAL WORKS
  7. Tchaikovsky: A Life Reconsidered 3
  8. Unknown Tchaikovsky: A Reconstruction of Previously Censored Letters to His Brothers (1875-1879) 55
  9. PART II. ESSAYS
  10. Music as the Language of Psychological Realism: Tchaikovsky and Russian Art 99
  11. Line of Succession: Three Productions of Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty 145
  12. Per Aspera Ad Astra: Symphonic Tradition in Tchaikovsky's First Suite for Orchestra 163
  13. An Examination of Problem History in Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony 197
  14. Tchaikovsky's Tatiana 216
  15. Review of The Maid of Orleans [ 1899] 234
  16. Tchaikovsky Androgyne: The Maid of Orleans 239
  17. The Coronation of Alexander III 277
  18. Tchaikovsky, Chekhov, and the Russian Elegy 300
  19. Tchaikovsky and the Russian "Silver Age" 319
  20. PART III. THEORETICAL WRITINGS
  21. A Documentary Glance at Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov as Music Theorists 333
  22. Index 355
  23. List of Contributors 367
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