Tchaikovsky’s 1st Piano Concerto: A Rough Start

What’s the secret to composing a piece of music that becomes one of the most famous and beloved in the Classical repertoire? Have the original performers, conductor, or critics hate it. Or even better: dedicate it to a soloist who denounces it after the first run-through.

An unreceptive soloist was precisely the dilemma Tchaikovsky faced with his first piano concerto. Having wrestled with the composition for months, Tchaikovsky finally had a preliminary form to present to the piece’s intended soloist, Nikolai Rubinstein. After Tchaikovsky played through the piece at the Petersburg Conservatory for him, Rubinstein viciously described it as “banal, clumsy, and incompetently written”—in short, unplayable.

Tchaikovsky refused to rework the piece for Rubinstein, and instead rededicated it to Hans von Bülow. In the fall of 1875, Bülow premiered the piece in Boston during his American tour. Audiences in Boston and New York loved the piece and demanded a repeat of the finale, and Bülow himself admired the piece for being “original and noble.” Although critics remained unenthused.

Since then, the work has become one of Tchaikovsky’s most popular compositions, and one of the best-known piano concertos in Western music. The main theme gained familiarity among a new generation of Americans as it introduced Orson Welles’ “Mercury Theatre” Radio Program, and as the melody in Big Bandleader Freddy Martin’s “Tonight We Love.” Winning the First International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958, Van Cliburn gave the piece worldwide recognition.

Tchaikovsky’s 1st Piano Concerto
February 20 & 21 | 8 PM
Abravanel Hall
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