RR Auctions Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Extremely rare Tchaikovsky hand-penned musical quotation

Esteemed Russian composer (1840–1893) whose colorful, dramatic, and expressive works represent the epitome of the Russian Romantic tradition and take a place among the most beloved staples of the concert repertory. Rare and extremely desirable AMQS on a 5.5 x 3.75 light green album page. Tchaikovsky pens three bars of an unidentified work, adding “And non hype,” above the quote, and signing “P. Tchaikovsky, London, 19 Apr. 1889.” Matted and framed, with an engraved portrait of the composer, to an overall size of 11 x 16. In very good condition, with a central vertical fold, some mild toning to edges, and a few stray ink marks. Tchaikovsky had served as director of the Moscow branch of the Russian Musical Society during the 1889-1890 season, where he invited a number of international celebrities to conduct,  but he started the year with a European concert tour in January 1889. London was the tour's last stop where he appeared at the Philharmonic Society in Saint James' Hall on April 11, conducting Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat and Suite No. 1. He was also composing his second ballet, Sleeping Beauty, for which he had been commissioned the previous December, writing his brother Modeste that he felt it was one of the best compositions he had ever written. It was completed in 1890, but an unidentified, unused 14-bar Suite in D-minor was discovered among his sketches for the ballet with no other mentions in his notes or letters. The highly desirable unidentified 3-bar exemplar offered here, also written in D-minor, is an uncommon and beautifully well-preserved quote from one of the most important figures of Western music.

The March 2012 Auction closes on Wednesday March 14, 2012