Variations on a Rococo Theme,

Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33

Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Date of publication: November 1889

After declining an invitation to a Christmas family gathering in Kamenka from his sister Aleksandra Davydova from December 15-27th of 1876, Tchaikovsky began writing a commission for a cello solo piece. At first he thought the piece would be quiet easy to complete and would only take the Christmas holidays, but in letters to his brother and fellow composer, Anatoly Tchaikovsky, he revealed that "Many people keep dropping in here unexpectedly...it seems that everyone in Petersburg is holding me back, when I had stupidly imagined that it would be possible to take advantage of the holidays to work," and that in January 1877, he still had a great deal to complete. After finishing sketches for his cello solo, Tchaikovsky gave an arrangement for the piano and cello to the famous cellist Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, who only made significant changes to the cello part, from bar 6 of the first variation to the end of the 4th variation and from bar 7 of the fifth variation to the end of the piece; although, Tchaikovsky did make many changes to the piano part in order to match the changes to the cello part. What is interesting about this piece is that the "first" performance took place more than a decade before publication, in Moscow, during the concert of the Russian Musical Society conducted by Nikolay Rubinstein and played by Fitzenhagen himself on the 18th or the 30th of November 1877. The reason for the delay in publication was because the Berlin publishers Luckhardt kept pushing back the date of publication for the cello solo, which prompted Tchaikovsky to ask Iosik Kotek to deliver the piece to Pyotr Jurgenson, Tchaikovsky's chief publisher. However, Fitzenhagen insisted that he had to make more revisions to the piece, much to the dismay of Jurgenson and Tchaikovsky, but no one stopped him.Fitzenhagen made many changes towards the piece, and even omitted the 8th variation. When the piece was finally publisehd in November 1889, Fitzenhagen's version included a theme and 7 variations, with the 3rd variation ( D minor Andante) as the 6th variation, with the cadenza after that variation changed as well, the 7th variation (C Major Andante) replacing it as the 3rd variation, and the 4th Variation (Allegro vivo) to conclude the piece.

Fun fact: Tchaikovsky's handwritten full score is kept in the Russian National Museum of Music in Moscow

Variations:

Thema: Moderato assai quasi Andante–Moderato semplice (61 bars)

Var. I. Tempo della Thema (24 bars)

Var. II. Tempo della Thema (33 bars)

Var. III. Andante sostenuto (70 bars)

Var. IV. Andante grazioso (58 bars)

Var. V. Allegro moderato (50 bars)

Var. VI. Andante (35 bars)

Var. VII e Coda. Allegro vivo (76 bars)

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