Anton Arensky - Marguerite Gautier: Fantasia for Orchestra, Op. 9
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- Anton Arensky (1861-1906)
Marguerite Gautier: Fantasia for Orchestra, Op. 9 (1886)
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Evgeny Svetlanov
This fantasia is an early work by Russian composer Anton Arensky, a student of Rimsky-Korsakov and disciple of Tchaikovsky. It is named for the protagonist of the famous novel La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils, which also forms the basis for Verdi’s opera La traviata. The 25-year-old budding composer sent a score to Tchaikovsky, whose exceptionally high standards and rigid tastes led him to send the following rather scathing letter:
“Dear Anton Stepanovich,-I wrote to you in August that I would pronounce judgment on Marguerite Gautier as soon as I had heard the work and had leisure to study the score. I held it all the more my duty to wait because, although I value your talent very highly, I do not like your Fantasia. It is very easy to praise a man who is highly esteemed. But to say to him: ‘Not beautiful; I do not like it,’ without basing one’s judgment on a full explanation, is very difficult. …
”I must state my opinion briefly. First the choice of subject. It was very painful and mortifying to me, and to all your friends that you had chosen La Dame aux Camélias as the subject of your Fantasia. How can an educated musician-when there are Homer, Shakespeare, Gogol, Pushkin, Dante, Tolstoy, Lermontov, and others-feel any interest in the production of Dumas fils, which has for its theme the history of a demi-mondaine adventuress which, even if written with French cleverness, is in truth false, sentimental, and vulgar? Such a choice might be intelligible in Verdi, who employed subjects which could excite people’s nerves at a period of artistic decadence; but it is quite incomprehensible in a young and gifted Russian musician, who has enjoyed a good education, and is, moreover, a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov and a friend of S. Taneyev.
“Now for the music: (1) The Orgies.-If we are to realise in these orgies a supper after a ball at the house of a light woman, in which a crowd of people participate, eat mayonnaise with truffles, and afterwards dance the cancan, the music is not wanting in realism, fire, and brilliancy. It is, moreover, saturated with Liszt, as is the whole Fantasia. Its beauty-if one looks at it closely-is purely on the surface; there are no enthralling passages. Such beauty is not true beauty, but only a forced imitation, which is rather a fault than a merit. We find this superficial beauty in Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Mendelssohn, Massenet, Liszt, and others. But they were also masters in their own way, though their chief characteristic was not the Ideal, after which we ought to strive. For neither Beethoven, nor Bach (who is wearisome, but still a genius), nor Glinka, nor Mozart, ever strove after this surface beauty, but rather the Ideal, often veiled under a form which at first sight is unattractive.
“(2) Pastorale in Bougival.-Oh God! If you could only understand how unpoetical and unpastoral this Bougival is, with its boats, its inns, and its cancans! This movement is as good as most conventional pastoral ballets that are composed by musicians of some talent.
“(3) The Love Melody: [E, D sharp, D natural, F double sharp, G sharp, C sharp] is altogether beautiful. It reminds me of Liszt. Not of any particular melody, but it is in his style, after the manner of his semi-Italian melodies, which are wanting in the plasticity and simplicity of the true Italian folk airs. Moreover, the continuation of your theme: [C sharp, D sharp, A, G, F sharp, E] is not only beautiful, but wonderful; it captivates both the ear and the heart.
“No one can ever reproach you with regard to the technical part of your work, which deserves unqualified praise.”
-P. I. Tchaikovsky, Maidanovo, April 2nd, 1887
Yes! Very good to see you back "musicanth"!
And, with such a magnificent peace of music. (I highly recommend reading the extended information).
As P.I. Tchaikovsky stated in his letter to the composer "... it is not only beautiful, but wonderful; it captivates both the ear and the heart."
Thank you for sharing this with us!
You're taking quotes out of context :P. Tchaikovsky said that only of the love theme. The rest of the letter basically tells Arensky that he dislikes the choice of subject and that it's very surface-beautiful rather than actually beautiful (and then goes on to put down the great Mendelssohn and Liszt, but whatever :P).
Welcome! What a stunning piece! :D
Indeed!
Che ottima composizione per il giovane allievo di Tchaikowsky e che fortuna avere un Maestro del suo calibro...
Ottimo inserimento.
Musicanth you're back!!! :D
How long must we wait for you to be back? :)
That's a great and constructive letter from Tchaikovsky. While you might say that he is quite harsh on Mendelssohn and Liszt, consider that he is talking from his own view on music and the one his fellow russian students should have. Their goals as he says is the "Ideal" is different then what Mendelssohn, Liszt, and obviously the opera composers like Rossini have. You can't deny that Liszt and Tchaikovsky's writing are worlds apart. While the early Liszt has a lot of virtuosity which by nature is more superficial, he also had deep and profound works. A innovator who experimented with atonality in a way that was only seen in the 20th century again, those works where hard to understand for the romantic-minded. While I am for myself very much a 'romantard' as well and fully agree with Tchaikovsky, it is only my and his own view of what makes good music. I fully understand the obsession with Liszt and consider him maybe a great composer but one I enjoy less than most obscure and second-rate composers from the latter half of the 19th century
welcome back Musicanth !
Thanks! WOW! Nice, uplifting. Reminds me of some of the Brits livelier full ork pieces.
Beautiful
In some respects perhaps 10 to 20 years ahead of its time; splendid orchestration - but not really interesting, and too repetitive.