Fresh from graduation from college, Tchaikovsky was invited to teach music theory at the newly formed Moscow Conservatory. He eagerly took the job even though the pay was not generous, just so he could establish himself in the professional world. He didn’t remain very long, teaching only a few years. One of his students, Iosif Kotek was a brilliant violinist who admired Tchaikovsky. After Kotek’s graduation the two men grew closer. In a letter to his brother, Tchaikovsky confessed his love for Kotek and even though Kotek was heterosexual, Kotek returned Tchaikovsky’s affection.

Their relationship was on-again off-again until 1878 when Kotek visited Tchaikovsky in Clarens on Lake Geneva in Switzerland. The two privately performed a reduction of Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole and Tchaikovsky was inspired to write his own work for violin and orchestra. The composition developed quickly with Kotek playing through passages and giving suggestions on improvements. The original second movement was completely scrapped after Kotek insisted Tchaikovsky could write a better one, which resulted in the beautiful melancholy “Canzonetta.”

Tchaikovsky intended to dedicate the concerto to Kotek but feared gossip about his homosexuality and instead dedicated it to another who was scheduled to perform the premiere. However, the second violinist withdrew claiming the concerto was unplayable. Eventually, nearly five years after its inception, the work received its premiere by the violinist Adolph Brodsky, to whom the concerto was then dedicated. Kotek never forgave Tchaikovsky for the snub and the two never made up.

The orchestral introduction builds up to what we believe will be an exciting entrance for the solo violin, but the first notes we hear are quite lyrical and gentle, foreshadowing the entire nature of the concerto. The eventual climaxes of the movement are played by the entire orchestra and not the violin, although the solo part builds the excitement to each climax. The concerto is technically difficult to perform for the violinist mostly because of a great number of double stops, especially in the solo cadenza. (A double stop is the playing of two notes at once on a stringed instrument by simultaneously bowing two different strings.)

The second movement Canzonetta is one of the more beautiful movements Tchaikovsky composed. The pensive melody first heard in the violin and later in the flute and clarinet is enchantingly simple. There is no break before the final movement which is much more “Russian” in its tone than the previous two movements, especially with the second theme. The violin dances and a Slavic melody is tossed between the wind instruments which accelerates to its virtuosic conclusion.

Notes by Kevin Lodge