Why did people criticize Pyotr Tchaikovsky?

Comments ( 7 )

1. suhwahaksaeng says

   Two reasons why Tchaikovsky gets sneered at:

   Reason number one: The conservatory snobs sneer at anything that the general public likes. When Leonard Bernstein was conductor of the New York Philharmonic, he appeared on TV and was popular with the general public. So the conservatory snobs sneered at him. Then he switched to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he didn't make regular TV appearances. Then, he was considered on of the greatest conductors of all time.

   Albert Schweitzer was widely known as a missionary doctor. That's why conservatory snobs sneered at him as a Bach scholar. But they wouldn't dare sneer at Charles Sanford Terry, another Bach scholar who was NOT familiar to the general public. However, I once did a report for Baroque Music class, and found that Terry borrowed a lot of Schweitzer's ideas without acknowledgment. NOW tell me who deserves greater credit!

   Here on this forum, we get lots of inquiries about Bella's Lullaby, The River Flows, Canon in D, the Moonlight Sonata, and Fur Elise. We freely sneer at those first three, but the last two put us in a pickle, because we don't dare sneer at Beethoven.

   Reason number two: The general public doesn't have the same criterion as the general public. The general public likes lovely melodies whereas the conservatory snobs like ingenious organization of ideas. Tchaikovsky only scores one out of two. Listen to the first movement of any symphony or concerto by Tchaikovsky. See of you don't agree that the first part, or the development, is very lovely, the middle part, or the development, is not so hot, and the last part, or the recapitulation, is also very lovely. It is the development section which really tests the composer's ability to organize ideas.

   Someone on this forum once asked who was the most over-rated and the most under-rated composer. I said "Tchaikovsky" in response to both questions.

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2. Lauren B says

   He was not scorned during his lifetime. He was quite popular. I believe he was invited to come to America, and conducted his own works in Carnegie Hall. However, he is now sometimes scorned in academic circles because his music is very repetitive, considered "fluffy" not as complex as some other composers etc. (in a nutshell).

   I happen to like Tchaikovsky, but I know many musicians in academia who look down on his music a little bit.

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3. Ezekiel W says

   I don't know…My guess would be, because the critics of the day were looking for something complex and artsy, and they were mad when he only made good music that people liked…but as I said, I don't know.

   By the way, have you ever listened to Op. 51 (I think it's called "Six Little Pieces" but I'm not sure).? I can't find it anywhere, and I really loved it when I heard it before : )

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4. Ryan K says

   In the same way that Tchaikovsky was criticized for not being "Russian" enough, he was also criticized for being too Russian. Seriously. The guy just can't get any respect eh? Take for example, a very well known review of Tchaikovsky's wonderful Violin Concerto. I snagged this quote from Wikipedia: "The influential critic Eduard Hanslick called it "long and pretentious" and said that it "brought us face to face with the revolting thought that music can exist which stinks to the ear". Hanslick also wrote that "the violin was not played but beaten black and blue", as well as labeling the last movement "odorously Russian"."

   And yet, today, many people consider the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto to be one of the best violin concertos ever written, probably just below that of Brahms and Beethoven.

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5. Boy Wonder says

   You have to remember the time period Tchaikovsky was in. He was in the midst of the "nationalist" movement, where composers like Smetana, Dvorak, and in particular, the Russian nationalists, the "Might Five" or "Might Handful", Balakirev, Cui, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Borodin. Each of the five were born between 1833 and 1844. Tchaikovsky, born in 1840, was not on the list, because he didn't write "Russian" music, per se, or at least, not in a nationalist style or purpose, although his music does sound russian. He wrote sentimental music, music from emotion, some say he wrote music like he wore his heart on his sleeve. He didn't much care about advancing Russian Music, he cared about writing what came from his own self, and that is why he was sneered at, and that is what made him stand out from his compatriots, and that is what makes him a better composer, in my opinion.

   Boy Wonder

   EDIT: I think you'd have to place Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto near the top of that list, if not at THE top.

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6. lol21t says

   Actually his work was fairly well received at times, according the the information I looked up. But I did find this quote,

   "Even during his life critics treated him unkindly because of his open, emotional music. But he never sought to change his style, though he was dissatisfied at one time or another with most of his works. He also never stopped composing."

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7. Jay R says

   Most visionaries are criticized for their work. Only posthumously are the best of works appreciated.

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