The Tchaikovsky Handbook: A Guide to the Man and His Music by Alexander s> Poznansky Brett Langston (review)

Abstract

734 SEER, 82, 3, 2004 that an index of names would have been a useful addition. In the last resort, however, this is a valuablebook which deservesto be widely studied. Department of Comparative Literature KNUT ANDREAS GRIMSTAD Nonregian University ofScience andTechnology Poznansky,Alexander and Langston,Brett(comps). TheTchaikovsky Handbook. A Guideto theMan andHis Music. Volume i: 7hematicCatalogue of Works, Catalogue ofPhotographs, Autobiography; Volume 2. Thematic Catalogue ofLetters, Geneaology, Bibliography. Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis, 2002. xli + 636 and xl + 832 pp. Notes. Illustrations. Musical extracts.Indexes. ?I03.oo and ?I03.00. CHAIKOVSKII,though verypopularwith concert goers, has not had the critical attention enjoyed by many great composers, and detailed studies of his life, for instance, have tended to concentrate on individual episodes, such as his marriage and, of course, his death. The Russian-American musicologist Alexander Poznansky himself has contributed serious research to the latter topic (see, for instance, SEER, 75, 1997, 4). In the present enterprisehe has collaborated with an Englishman in the task of producing a large-format encyclopedic handbook of the composer, aimed at righting the latter's perceived neglect hitherto.The tone of this ambitiousprojectis very personal in a numberofways,but in purelyinformationaltermsit isvaluable,especially in the byways of Chaikovskii's compositions. It is designed 'to serve the reference needs of [. . .] musicologists and musicians, music bibliographers and librarians, collectors and antiquarian booksellers, music critics and programmeannotators,and anyone who is fascinatedby Tchaikovsky'smusic and personality'(i, p. xv). The firstvolume begins with a ratherchatty Chronology: one of the items for September i876 refers to the composer's disastrous marriage plans, as follows:'Due to social and familypressures,and alarmedby learning that his brother Modest is also homosexual, he announces his decision to marry' (i, p. xxxv). After this come twenty-twoplates (mainlyof scores).Farthe largest section in the firstvolume is a Catalogue of Works,divided thematicallyinto twenty-three sections from Operas to Diaries. In the musical sections, the commentaryis not extensive, though informative,and musicalillustrations(in piano score)areprofuse,illustratingthe main (opening)themesof the relevant work.To takeas an example one of Chaikovskii'sbest knownworks,the Sixth Symphony, there are four musical examples; of the opening and the main themes of the first movement, and of the opening of each of the other four movements. These take up about three-quartersof a page, whilst the words, most of which concern the MS sources,comprise about one and a halfpages. Arguably more interesting to scholars are Chaikovskii's student exercises, arrangements,musicaljokes and album leaves, to say nothing of unfinished and projected works. Space is also given to description of the composer's writings, divided as follows: books (studies of harmony, I87I and I875), eighty-four articles, interviews, translations, poetry and juvenile works, notebooks (I876-93), and diaries (I873-91). Whilst the above is, of course, a REVIEWS 735 catalogue rather than an anthology, the Catalogue of Photographs not only describes but also illustratesthe 129 pictures;the generally splendid appearance of the volumes is slightlylet down here by the ratherdrab monochrome reproductions.Finally, there is a heavily annotated six-page 'Autobiography' (i 899). The volume ends with a series of Listsand Indexes: of worksby opus number; a chronological list of compositions (including unfinished and unrealizedprojects);an index of titlesand titlevariants;and a generalindex. The second volume contains a catalogue of letters, a genealogy, and a bibliography.The firstof these gives details of recipients, dates and places of writing, the language used and where each letter is to be found, as well as to where, if at all, it was firstpublished;a usefuladdition is an asteriskwhere the publication (in Polnoe sobranie sochinenii. Literaturnye proizvedeniia i perepiska, vols 5-17, Moscow, 1957-8I) was incomplete or censored. The genealogy seeks to provide information not only about Chaikovskii'snumerous relatives but also about the families of his brother-in-law,Lev Davydov, of Nadezhda von Meck, and of his wife Antonina Miliukova.Finally,the section on Catalogues and Bibliographies comprises catalogues, bibliographies, discographies, filmographies and videographies, chronologies and encyclopedias; that on Sources and Documents includes manuscripts,scores, literaryworks, correspondence , diaries and notebooks, memoirs, pictorial collections and sound recordings; the section on Appreciation is divided into collected essays, commemoration, and...