Tchaikovsky: Twelve Pieces, Op. 40

Introduction

Tchaikovsky's Twelve Pieces (Двенадцать пьес) for solo piano, Op. 40 (TH 138 ; ČW 136 to 147) , subtitled "of moderate difficulty" («срелней трудности»), were written between February and April 1878. 

Movements and Duration

1. Etude
   Allegro giusto (G major, 114 bars).
2. Chanson triste
   Allegro non troppo (G minor, 68 bars).
3. Marche funèbre
   Tempo di Marcia funebre (C minor, 115 bars).
4. Mazurka
   Tempo di Mazurka (C major, 153 bars).
5. Mazurka
   Tempo di Mazurka (D major, 171 bars).
6. Chant sans paroles
   Allegro moderato (A minor, 110 bars).
7. Au village
   Andante sostenuto (A minor–C major).
8. Valse
   Tempo di Valse (A-flat major, 191 bars).
9. Valse
   Tempo di Valse (F-sharp minor, 231 bars).
10. Danse russe
    Andantino (A minor, 120 bars).
11. Scherzo
    Allegro vivacissimo (D minor, 236 bars).
12. Rêverie interrompue
    Andante un poco rubato e con molto espressione (A-flat major, 125 bars).

A performance of the complete set lasts around 45 to 50 minutes.

Composition

"I have decided that each morning I shall write something new. Yesterday I wrote a romance, and today a piano piece", Tchaikovsky wrote to Nadezhda von Meck from Florence on 12/24 February 1878 . The result of this decision was the composition of twelve piano pieces of moderate difficulty.

Tchaikovsky referred to the piece Rêverie interrompue (No. 12) in another letter of 13/25 February 1878 . For its middle section the composer used a song which he heard through his window in Venice sung by a single street-singer .

While travelling from Florence to Clarens (Switzerland), the composer continued work on the piano pieces. The next reference to the piano pieces was on 28 February/12 March 1878 in a letter to Anatoly Tchaikovsky . By mid/late March he had already completed seven pieces . At the same time Tchaikovsky was working on the Violin Concerto and the Grand Sonata in G major. The sketches for the pieces were completed at Kamenka in April. "The 12 pieces of moderate difficulty for solo piano are ready—but of course, only in draft" . The copying out of the pieces was accomplished by 13/25 July .

An variant of the Valse in F-sharp minor (No. 9) was written on 4/16 June 1878 in Sergey Taneyev's notebook (according to the author's date) .

Publication

On 29 July/10 August the composer sent the pieces to his publisher in Moscow, together with a number of other completed works (the Grand Sonata in G major, the Children's Album, the Six Romances, Op. 38, and the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom). While preparing the pieces for publication, Tchaikovsky asked Pyotr Jurgenson to: "ask Taneyev to play through these pieces, and correct any mistakes he might find" . The proofs were corrected by Nikolay Kashkin, although Tchaikovsky himself also reviewed them . The set was published by Pyotr Jurgenson in 1879.

The Twelve Pieces were published in volume 52 of Tchaikovsky's Complete Collected Works (1948), with the variant of the Valse (No. 9) appearing in an appendix to volume 53 of the same series (1949), both edited by Anatoly Drozdov.

In 2008 the set was included in volume 69a of the New Edition of the Complete Works, edited by Polina Vaidman and Lyudmila Korabelnikova.

Autographs

Tchaikovsky's manuscript score containing all twelve pieces is now preserved in the Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture in Moscow (ф. 88, No. 115).