Tchaikovsky: Impromptu in E-flat minor Op. 1.2

Introduction

The Impromptu in E-flat minor, Op. 1, No. 2 (TH 122 ; ČW 99) is a student work for piano dating from 1863 or 1864.

Movements and Duration

There is one movement: Allegro furioso (E-flat minor, 150 bars), lasting around 7 minutes in performance.

Composition

Nothing is known of the process of composition, except that it was written while Tchaikovsky was a student at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory.

Publication

The Impromptu found its way into print accidentally. Nikolay Kashkin recalled that it had been "set down in the middle of Pyotr Ilyich's other Petersburg work, and in this notebook were some blank pages on which a new work [the Scherzo à la russe] was written... When P. I. Jurgenson wanted to print the Scherzo à la russe, Rubinstein took him the whole notebook, but P. I. Jurgenson did not receive any instructions, and so he had engraved all the pieces he found. When Tchaikovsky saw the proofs of both pieces, he was at first surprised and annoyed that the Impromptu had also been engraved, but he later became reconciled to this irreversible fact" ^[1]

Autographs

The autograph score of the Impromptu has been lost.