Souvenir de Florence
The string sextet in D minor “Souvenir de Florence” (op. 70) is a chamber music work by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky .
Emergence
Tchaikovsky designed the sextet in 1890 during a stay of several months in Florence , where his opera Pique Dame was composed. It was only completed after several revisions, which Tchaikovsky completed in Klin, Russia, in early 1892 . This year the sextet finally celebrated its premiere. Tchaikovsky dedicated the work to the St. Petersburg Chamber Music Society, which had recently made him an honorary member.
The sextet is one of Tchaikovsky's cheerful, life-affirming works, which is attributed to the positive effect of his vacation in Florence. A comparable spa stay in Clarens on Lake Geneva a few years earlier, during which Tchaikovsky wrote his famous violin concerto , had a similarly positive influence .
Occupation and structure
The sextet is composed for two violins , two violas and two cellos and has a classic structure: a sonata movement is followed by a slow second movement, the scherzo in trio form then leads over to the final rondo , which Tchaikovsky concludes with a double fugue . The sentences are:
- Allegro con spirito
- Adagio cantabile e con moto
- Allegro moderato
- Allegro vivace
Orchestral version
The work was arranged for string orchestra early on, around 1893 by Anton Seidl in New York's Carnegie Hall . Different versions can be heard to this day, for example with or without double basses and with a different proportion of solo parts.
literature
- Edward Garden: Tschaikowski - Life and Work , Munich 1986