Short Biography
Life Before 1878
Tchaikovsky was brought up in a relatively unmusical and noble family in a remote region 600 miles east of Moscow; not even a single one in his bloodline from the distant past could be considered professional musicians. As unmusical as his family was, Tchaikovsky still showed certain inclinations to express himself artistically through other means, such as poems, luckily preserved by his nanny Fanny Dürbach. Though he never regarded himself as a true noble, in regard to his family’s societal status, so strongly imbued was the nationalism in his mind that he was much distraught at the discovery that one of his relative was of Polish descent and rejoiced when he found out that one of his earliest ancestors was one orthodox Russian.
Unlike his contemporaries, the nature of his childhood surroundings exposed him not to the post-Beethoven era composers, but rather, the pre-Beethoven ones such as Mozart, Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti, much of this early musical exposure was owed to the family’s orchestrion; a circumstance he was grateful for as later in life as according to himself, it was Mozart’s music that helped in part convince him to pursue a career in music. He was among the few composers of his era that was truly touched by Mozart, whom he held with such a high regard. In 1878, he wrote about the music of Mozart and its influences over his musical disposition, worth reading in its entirety:
“The music of Don Juan was the first to make a deep impression upon me. It awoke a spiritual ecstasy which was afterward to bear fruit. By its help, I penetrated into that world of artistic beauty where only great genius abides. It is due to Mozart that I devoted my life to music. He gave the first impulse to my efforts, and made me love it above all else in the world.” (M. Tchaikovsky, p. 23)
Though initially having studied laws at the Imperial School of Jurisprudence for years and worked as a clerk in the Ministry of Justice from 1859 – 1863, he eventually gave in to his musical aspirations and resigned from his current post to pursue a career in music. During his time at the law school, he has made a number of small compositions which had already begun to show some musical traits that would permeate his later works, such as the use of chords that has a raised 4th (Mezza Notte; 1860).
Tchaikovsky spent almost three years studying at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory where he studied composition and orchestration with Anton Rubinstein, one of the greatest pianists at that time, according to Tchaikovsky. He was also one of the first people Tchaikovsky turned to for advice and comments for his new compositions. The two remained close friends until Tchaikovsky’s death in 1893.
Having grown up in the country, his ardent love for nature and its influence over his artistic temperament is evidenced in his writings. For example, in one letter to Nadezhda von Meck, his patroness, written during his stay at her estate in Brailov (now a part of the Vinnitsa district in Ukraine) in 1878, he wrote:
“And, in truth, one would become a child again if one lived long all alone with Nature. One would become far more receptive to the simple, artless joys which she offers us.” (Letter 840)
Since childhood, Tchaikovsky had always been a compassionate and emotional person, as recalled by his nanny:
“His sensibility was extreme, therefore I had to be very careful how I treated him. A trifle wounded him deeply. He was brittle as porcelain.” (M. Tchaikovsky, p. 8)
And it was this “sensibility” that became the root of his distraught later in his life when he decided to get married. In May 1877, despite his homosexuality, he was so moved by a letter from a girl who used to study with him that he paid her a visit, though only to show gratitude and sympathy. Seeing how he encouraged her feelings for him even further inadvertently, he decided to marry her out of pity. As mentioned earlier, his sympathetic inclinations for other living things forced him to go against all that he cherished: his freedom and seclusion; he engaged to a woman with whom he was not at the least in love. And this marriage ended disastrously, so disastrous that he needed a period to recover his mental state. Luckily for him, it happened after he became acquainted with his patroness Nadezhda von Meck; having to be away for mental recuperation from the failed marriage, the months of absence from work would have thrown him into poverty had it not been financed by Nadeshda, to whom, all the music composed in this period owed their existence, including the violin concerto.
Life After 1878
At the end of the 70s, Tchaikovsky reached the highest stage of his artistic maturity. These last thirteen years of his life was the peak of his career and during this time he would venture on to produce some of the most iconic works of classical music. This is in part thanks to Nadeshda’s allowance of 6000 rubles a year, which had allowed Tchaikovsky to resign from his teaching job at the conservatoire and focus solely on his music.
Beginning with Eugene Oniegin in 1879, with each newly composed work, Tchaikovsky would draw even more attention to himself, both domestic and international. The reception towards Eugene Onegin was not so great right away, it was lukewarm at best, if not cool., praises after praises began to flow in from people of all backgrounds, even the great Nicholas Rubinstein himself, who was so parsimonious with his musical praises.
From 1879 to 1880, he completed his Second Piano Concerto, in which a short melody he repeatedly heard sung by “every blind beggar” was used; the Serenade for String Orchestra was also composed in this period. Lastly, the most iconic of all, the 1812 overture.
Now that his pecuniary situation is no longer in peril and he can travel and enjoy life to the fullest, he sought to find a quiet place of his own in the countryside where he would be able to work for days or weeks undisturbed by the usual hubbub of life. The place was a manor house in Maydanovo near Klin, just a little bit outside of Moscow.
In this new place he was a master of his own time and occupied himself with studies, readings, and works. Here also, he had composed several important works and Manfred was the last of them.
This period also happen to be one of the other turning points in Tchaikvoksy’s life, according to his brother:
“From 1885 he ceased to show his works to anyone. The first to make acquaintance with them was the engraver at Jurgenson’s publishing house”
As he grew older, this propensity to separate himself from other people grew ever so stronger, his primary aim was to enjoy all the beauties life had to offer. The time spent in solitude was the time he could compose, work on his ideas, every existence of a companion would ruin the moments, and this old Tchaikovsky was not very fond of that.
Later in the eighties, his fame greatly increased in Europe and America without him being aware of it. The fame was such that several famous artists began sending him letters congratulating him on his works after a successful series of performance, and the fact that the right to publishing his music in France was bought out from Jurgenson, who had up until that point, been the sole publisher of Tchaikovsky’s music.
In 1888, Tchaikovsky received an offer for a three-month concert tour at a rate of 25,000 dollars, to which he accepted and began his voyage in April 1891. There, he spent most of his time in New York.
Shortly before his New York, his heart and soul, Alexandra passed away. His brother Modeste dared not break this blowing news to him, for surely, it would have been overweighted by his grief, especially when he had to go through the tour alone and so far away from home. In a letter he sent to his brother from the ship headed for Newfoundland he wrote:
When one gets to my years it is best to stay at home, close to one’s own folk. The thought of being so far from all who are dear to me almost kills me.
But despite all his brother’s effort at barring the news from him, to add to how famous he had become, he learned of his sister’s death through a newspaper during his brief stop in Paris, before he embarked upon the ship on which he wrote the quote above is from.
He discovered, to his surprise, that he was quite famous in the States, even more so in Russia. During his journey, passengers on the same ship, after finding out who he was, would not stop pestering him and asking him to play something on the piano. Many of his works that were not frequently played in Russia were also played here:
"I am convinced that I am ten times more famous in America than in Europe. At first, when others spoke about it to me, I thought it was only their exaggerated amiability. But now I see that it really is so. Several of my works, which are unknown even in Moscow, are frequently played here. I am a much more important person here than in Russia. Is not that curious?”
Shortly after his return to Russia, he would see himself leaving his country again for new tours in Ukraine, Poland, and Germany.
All these tours and concerts have enabled Tchaikovsky’s to purchase a new house around Klin, surrounded by fields and forests and he liked.
In 1893, the year of his death, had been one last fruitful year. His works were given and his name was known in all major cities in Europe, he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Music from Cambridge University, and many new works were commissioned and completed.
The bond between Nadezhda von Meck and Tchaikovsky had ended abruptly after Tchaikovsky was notified of Nadezhda’s financial difficulty in 1890. Though, thanks to his fame, he was already quite comfortable financially and was no longer dependent on Nadezhda’s money:
“In recent years my earnings have considerably increased, and there are indications that they will continue to do so.”
the news of his friend’s difficulty still came as a huge blow to him.
Shortly after sending Tchaikovsky the letter, Frau von Meck had seen a sharp decline in her physical condition after a bout of pneumonia, which rendered her incapable of writing to anyone, even to her children. After both her physical and financial situations alleviated, her children fell ill, and she considered herself obligated to take care of her children and cut off everything else.
Tchaikovsky was never made aware of the last fact and would carry whatever questions, mental wounds, and disappointments he had had to his grave in 1893, mumbling, according to his brother Modeste, her name on his deathbed before he drew his breath.
Chronological Biography
1870
In 1870, Tchaikovsky was still relatively unknown, even amongst Russians. Though his talents were noticeable, most of his pieces failed to reach the public. Earlier that year, his opera Undine was rejected by the Musical Society, and his Romeo and Juliet, given earlier on March 4th, had had no success. A testimony to this early stage in his artistic development can be seen in his letter to his friend Ivan Klimenko:
“No one said a single word about the overture during the evening. And yet I yearned so for appreciation and kindness!” (letter 190)
This year, due to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war, while he was visiting his friend in around June-July, he was driven along with many other people caught in the war to the neutral territory of Switzerland, where he remained for 6 weeks. The older Tchaikovsky would have taken advantage of this period of inactivity and work at every possible hour. On the contrary, this young Tchaikovsky, according to himself, did no serious work beyond revising his overture Romeo and Juliet; most of his time was spent taking in all the beauties of the Swiss landscape – his first introduction to the splendor of western Europe took the majority of his attention.
This revised version of Romeo and Juliet published the following season in Berlin, which was a big success for him; to have one’s work published in Berlin despite being relatively unknown was a feat worthy of praise. And this version of the opera also marked the first point in his matured artistic development, where he displayed all his talents in their full glory and rendered all his previous works pale in comparison. The opera, in the same year, was performed in several German towns.
The success of this event can be said to have been foreseen by his friend Laroche. In 1866, after the performance of his much berated Cantata, even from his own teacher Anton Rubinstein, Laroche, in a letter sent to Tchaikovsky
In you I see the greatest—or rather the sole—hope of our musical future. Your own original creations will probably not make their appearance for another five years. But these ripe and classic works will surpass everything we have heard since Glinka.”
Later in December, having signed a contract to compose for the ballet Cinderella, he began working tirelessly; however, he was not able to finish what would have been his first ballet score in such a short amount of time, due to his work at the Conservatoire taking up much of his time as well, so his involvement fell through.
1871
This year marked the birth of another important music composition: his first String Quartet in D major. It was composed hastily within one month (February). When it was given on March 16th, the crowd, though not big, was pleased with the performance.
More importantly, it was the year his pecuniary situation began to stabilize. After having been so long under the influence of Nicholas Rubinstein, having to cater to almost all his needs nights and days, he finally had the chance to emancipate himself, get himself a room and a servant. His salary at the conservatoire increased and he began to get more royalties from the sale of his works. He also began his short career as a music critic, which earned him some extra money until 1876.
1872
Early 1872, much of his personal life and views are not known, as there exists none of his letters from this period. Early this year, many more of his important works would have been finished, such as the opera Oprichnik and his Second Symphony in C minor.
Around the middle of the year, after the performance of his Festival Cantata at the opening of the Polytechnic Exhibition, he left Moscow for Kamenka, where he often went to seek refuge from the hubbub of town life. It was here that he started one of his most Russian compositions, the Second Symphony, before finishing it in Moscow in August.
The Second Symphony, according to his brother, was the result of the influence of the Mighty Five. Here, Tchaikovsky used 3 Ukrainian folk songs: Down by the Mother Volga (Вниз по матушке, по Волге), Spin O My Spinner (Пряди, пряха), and a very famous Ukrainian folk song The Crane (Журавель). The symphony was deemed by many as one of his best works. And appealed to many Russians due to its nationalistic quality. Pyotr Ilyich told his brother about this trip in February 1873 :
“When I was in St. Petersburg, I played the final movement at an evening at Rimsky-Korsakov’s , and the whole company almost tore me apart with delight and Madame Korsakov implored me to arrange the Finale for four hands."
Fortunately for Tchaikovsky’s Oprichnik, in that same year, after having worked so hard on The Oprichnik, the opera was unanimously accepted by the Capellmeisters the Imperial theater and Opera.
As someone who loved literature, Tchaikovsky was always in pursuit of a topic for new operas. On December 30th, he received a letter from Vladimir Stassov, one of the most respected music critics, detailing what he thought could serve as the topic for Tchaikovsky’s next big opera: The Tempest. To which Tchaikovsky took much interest in and eventually composed an opera based on Stassov’s detailed description of the scenes:
“In the introduction I picture it to myself as calm, until Prospero works his spell and the storm begins. But I think this storm should be different from all others, in that it breaks out at once in all its fury, and does not, as generally happens, work itself up to a climax by degrees….”
“The love theme (crescendo) must resemble the expanding and blooming of a flower; Shakespeare has thus depicted her at the close of the first act,…”
“Your overture is beautiful, but it might have been still more so. And now, please note that I want your new work to be wider, deeper, more mature….” (M. Tchaikovsky, pg. 173)
1873
To Tchaikovsky, life was one of the most valuable assets known to him. He dreaded the thought of losing all trace of experience each day had had for him. He jotted down notes of what he thought was interesting, committed himself to preserve the very thing he held dear. This was the year he began experimenting with his diary. The very day he left his friend’s estate in Nizy, a town in the Sumy district in Ukraine (M.Tchaikovsky, pg. 140).
In his diary, his thoughts are expressed with more frankness than in his letters to his friends or family; unfortunately, most of his diary was destroyed by himself. Nonetheless, we can still read what we have and come to our own conclusions pertaining to his disposition in that year; nothing could be more first-hand than reading someone’s writing about their thoughts. Entries from his diaries can be read at en.tchaikovsky-research.net. Luckily for us, he expressed his innermost thoughts almost as freely in his letters to Nadezhda von Meck in later years.
As for his compositions, this year, he composed The Snow Maiden (Снегурочка), a Russian folk tale; arrangement of his symphony, Oprichnik, for piano, started and finished The Tempest within a few months.
Though his musical disposition was not that of a typical nationalist, like the Mighty five, he still considered himself imbued with all the characteristics of a true Russian nationalist. He also noted to Nadezhda von Meck that several folkish aromas in his music are mere results of him having grown up in the country and had as a result, absorbed all those folk qualities. More details about his compositional method are discussed further in the “Method” section of this research.
Tchaikovsky had received and would have received several works similar to The Snow Maiden, having stories revolving around folk themes. However, his music was not considered to be “Russian” by many. But it was this quality that gave his music its uniqueness, a blend of national ideology and western (non-Russian) music characteristics.
Tchaikovsky was aware of the public view towards his music, as noted in his letter to Nadezhda von Meck how he despised the way “The Mighty Five” encapsulated themselves into a small and “untenable” circle. This “Mighty Five” circle brushed aside and trivialized all training derived from western music theory, which in Tchaikovsky’s view had resulted in “lack of individuality and mannerisms''.
1874
This year marked the monumental success of the first performance of his Second Quartet in F major, the Second Symphony, and Oprichnik. His Second Symphony and Oprichnik won the approval of a lot of people. And thanks to these works, starting this year, his name would begin climbing slowly to the top of the Russian artistic circle and would see themselves, among his other works, be included in the main repertory of many opera houses and orchestras.
Amongst those approved of his new works were all of the Mighty Five but one: Caesar Cui. Cui’s criticism was even more severe and slandering in his writing about Oprichnik.
Despite the chorus and the orchestra were excellent and the performance was smooth, and the public seemed to show great enthusiasm after the show was over, Cui’s slandering criticism about Oprichnik nonetheless shook Tchaikovsky:
“The text might have been the work of a schoolboy, the music is equally immature and undeveloped ...it is such as might have been expected from a beginner...The choruses are rather better than the rest, but this is only because of the folksong element which forms their thematic material....” (M. Tchaikovsky, pg. 151)
What this does is highlight the contrasting difference between someone who is both musically and ideologically nationalist like Cui, and a mixed breed like Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky’s music indeed began to charm an audience of all nationalities. Laroche wrote:
“The wealth of musical beauties in Oprichnik is so great that this opera takes a significant place not only among Tchaikovsky’s own works, but among all the examples of Russian dramatic music…we have a score which displays many of the best features of modern operatic music, while at the same time it is free from most of the worst faults of contemporary composition.” ( Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 148, 1874)
However, by 1881, Oprichnik was given already fourteen times, not a single opera from the contemporary Russian composers had exceeded 16, while many had only reached eight.
Each year, Tchaikovsky liked to spend his summer away from town life, to take stock of his life, to work on his own projects, listen and enjoy foreign music and performances, and most importantly, to really take in the beauty of nature that was so dear to him.
During this summer holiday, Tchaikovsky began composing his new opera Vakoula for a competition held by the directors of the Imperial Musical Society; wanting to erase the memory of his Oprichnik, he hurried to get this new opera done within a year.
Why he hated such a successful work, we may never know, but it, alongside his 2nd symphony, had now made him one of the most renowned composers in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg. Several of his other works had also been building fame in foreign lands, as noted by Hans von Bülow:
“A beautiful string quartet by him has won its way in many German towns. Many of his works deserve equal recognition—his pianoforte compositions, two symphonies...” (M. Tchaikovsky, 157)
Hans von Bülow was a pianist who took a special interest in the music of Tchaikovsky. Later in the year, in December, after Tchaikovsky had had a fall out with his friend Nicolas Rubinstein over the draft of his piano concerto, to whom his first piano concerto was dedicated, he instead dedicated it to Bülow.
1875
From this year onward, his mental instability – the longing for emancipation – began to materialize. Much of his work at this time was hindering his musical work. This mental state showed itself in the form of him switching his ideal life back and forth between “calm, isolated, and peaceful” and “be around those who were dear to me”.
In the summer of 1874, while he was in Italy during his holiday, he wrote to his sister, longing to be in her company and regretting his decision for not doing so. This year, he went to her sister’s estate at Verbovka, where he finished his 3rd symphony and two acts from his recently commissioned ballet The Swan Lake.
As we approach the biggest turning point in his life: his introduction Nadezhda von Meck, it is important to note the speed at which he works when he does not feel antipathetic to his surroundings. As will be noted later in the “method” section, his composition relies on him setting the right mindset in an appropriate environment.
The Summer of 1875 was one of his happiest Summer; he spent it with his sister, her family, his father, and Anatol in an Verbovka, his sister’s estate. It was so charming it became his favorite holiday spot.
1876
Tchaikovsky had always been fascinated by Bizet’s Carmen, to quote himself:
“The music is not profound, but it is so fascinating in its simplicity, so full of vitality, so sincere, that I know of every note from beginning to end.”
During his stay in Paris earlier this year, he went to see Carmen with his brother Modeste. Though he had already been quite familiar with Carmen before seeing that concert through a piano reduction score sent to him by Shilovsky, this performance did not fail to make a lasting impression on Tchaikovsky. The tangible and human subject of the opera had shifted the composer’s view toward the ideal operatic subject. This would become one of his strongest motivations for choosing Eugene Oniegin as his next operatic subject. And it was this work that would, in 1885, completely made him known in every class in educated Russia. With its unique subject, set in a very normal setting, no princesses, no kings, no fairies, it took a while for this opera to catch the public’s attention. The composer was aware of this fact, as he noted in one of his letters to Nadezhda von Meck, saying how he did not care if people would listen. Thanks to the tangibility of this operatic subject, he was able to feel and be sincerely moved by it, and that it proceeded in the most literal sense from my inmost being”.
“You have no notion how crazy I am upon this subject. How delightful to avoid the commonplace Pharaohs, Ethiopian princesses, poisoned cups, and all the rest of these dolls’ tales!" Tchaikovsky, in a letter to his brother, early spring, 1877
In December, through Kotek, Tchaikovsky was introduced to Nadeshda Filaretova von Meck, a widow of a well-known railway engineer. Nadeshda discovered that she and Kotek shared a special admiration for Tchaikovsky and through him, she learned much more about Tchaikovsky the composer, and more importantly, Tchaikovsky the man. The direct communication between the two through letters began with Nadeshda giving Tchaikovsky compliments and commissions, but it took a turn when Nadeshda offered to take care of all his material matters. This had a huge impact upon Tchaikovsky, as it allowed Tchaikovsky to become a full-time composer. It can be safely assumed that had Frau von Meck not done what she did, the entire body of work of Tchaikovsky from 1877 would have been entirely different.
1877
This fateful year, the year in which Tchaikovsky’s life fully became under his control, when the relationship between a benefactor and a beneficiary became so poetic and intriguing.
After receiving his first commission from Frau von Meck, she sent him her first letter in which she spoke of her admiration for his music while thanking him for his “prompt execution”. This formal exchange of letters would go back and forth for a while, trading compliments, gratitude, and dealing commissions. Through this series of letters, the two slowly became closer and closer, as professed by Nadeshda, she would like to know more about the composer and the man he truly was. She however, had zero intentions to meet him; they never saw each other directly, but when they did, they passed as total strangers. (M. Tchaikovsky, pg. 208) Therefore, this special and bizarre situation had made writing letters to each other akin to writing out a diary; both poured out their innermost thoughts without fear of retributions.
Nadeshda, after having commissioned Tchaikovsky a number of times, slowly began to take charge of other aspects of Tchaikovsky’s pecuniary difficulties; she paid his debts of 3000 rubles, securing her place as his sole creditor in the process. As stated by herself in one of her letters to the composer, by helping him, she was in turn helping her, as his existence and his music served as the primary source of enjoyment in her life. Of course, this did not even in the least weaken their friendship.
Other than being financially pivotal, this year also proved to be mentally destructive towards Tchaikovsky as well. He decided to marry Antonina Ivanovna Milioukov, but not without protests from his brothers, who were well aware of his homosexuality.
This engagement was the result of his caring and sensitive disposition. Through a series of letters, Antonina had shown him her ardent affection for him. He was moved to have such an admirer, though he could not reciprocate that love, he nonetheless promised to become a “grateful” and “devoted” friend, paradoxically, through marriage.
They married on July 6th; on July 26th, he sent a letter to Frau von Meck saying:
“I leave in an hour’s time. A few days longer, and I swear I should have gone mad.”
This marriage is important to the theme of this research, as it was the reason for his needed “vacation”, during which the violin concerto was composed.
After less than a month of cohabitation, the marriage turned out already to be disastrous. The problem was his lack of foresight; he did not love the girl, nor was he straight. Living with Antonina for only 20 years had almost brought him to the brink of insanity. He left his wife to stay with his sister for a month and a half, before returning and leaving again for good. This departure saw him going abroad for a mental recuperation.
According to his brother Anatol, Tchaikovsky’s face had entirely changed within one month. He took him to the nearest hotel, where he remains unconscious for 48 hours due to a nervous breakdown.
Together, they traveled to Berlin on October 3rd, the beginning of Tchaikovsky’s long recovery.
The first place of his choosing was Clarens. During his stay here, Frau von Meck took it upon herself to offer him an annual allowance of 6,000 rubles a year (around 17,000 USD in today’s money), which immediately freed him of all bonds that prevented him from living his artistic dream. He was, from this point onward, able to employ his time as he sees fit and lives as he pleases.
Thanks to her financial support, he was able to extend his trip and immediately decided to go to Italy. And also, thanks to their closeness, the letters from this point onward may be read like a diary, as it contained all the little details one might expect from a diary. The majority of his time around the end of 1877 was spent in Italy and Austria. To Italy he returned again in December, where he would remain until the end of February 1878.
1878
After Italy, he returned back to his favorite spot in Clarens in winter, where he was joined later by his student Kotek.
Much happened in Tchaikovsky’s life this year, but the most important details that concern this project were listed in two of his letters to Nadezhda von Meck. In there, he talked about his method of composition and why, rather often, we hear a lot of folk music characteristics. Most of this is discussed in the “method” section of this research.
The concerto was composed later during his Clarens stay in spring. Largely inspired by Symphonie Espagnole by Lalo, a five-movement piece for solo violin and orchestra based on Spanish folk songs. During his stay in Clarens, he was visited by his student/lover (for some time), the violinist Kotek, with whom he played a number of pieces arranged or composed for a solo violin and a piano. This occasion with Kotek was the impetus for the concerto. Kotek also helped Tchaikovsky edit some parts for the concerto.
The concerto took him less than 1 month to complete, with only 5 days spent on the first movement. But years had gone by before someone, a violinist Adolf Brodsky, had decided to perform it in Vienna.
This concerto was his only work that premiered outside of Russia: the first unofficial premiere was in New York in 1879, with a piano accompaniment, with L. Damrosh as the interpreter, and the official premiere was the aforementioned concert in Vienna. (E. I. Inochenko, 2018)
Initially, the concerto was dedicated to Leopold Auer, but to Tchaikovsky’s chagrin, similar to how his piano concerto was deemed “unplayable” and “unworthy” by Nicholas Rubinstein, Leopold Auer gave the violin concerto the same treatment; much scolding and suggested a lot of edits. This strong and repulsive toward the violin concerto was not uncommon, most notably, one German critic Eduard Hanslick wrote:
“Mozart’s youthful work (the Divertimento) would have had a more favourable position had it been played after, instead of before, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto; a drink of cold water is welcome to those who have just swallowed brandy….
For a time it proceeds in a regular fashion, it is musical and not without inspiration, then crudeness gains the upper hand and reigns to the end of the first movement. The violin is no longer played, but rent asunder, beaten black and blue….
We see savages, vulgar faces, hear coarse oaths and smell fusel-oil. Friedrich Fischer, describing lascivious paintings, once said there were pictures ‘one could see stink.’ Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto brings us face to face for the first time with the revolting idea: May there not also be musical compositions which we can hear stink?”
Later, both Auer and Rubinstein realized their mistake and made amends in their own way with the composer, with Rubinstein eventually performing the piano concerto and Auer receiving “absolution” from the composer personally.
The original Andante for this concerto was considered “unsuited to the other two”. After a playthrough with his student Kotek, he decided to write a new Andante. The original was instead combined with two other violin pieces. This new piece was Souvenir d’un lie cher, finished in 1878.