Swan Lake

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
(1840 - 1893)

Tchaikovsky was one of the earlier students of the St. Petersburg Conservatory established by Anton Rubinstein, completing his studies there to become a member of the teaching staff at the similar institution established in Moscow by Anton Rubinstein's brother Nikolay. He was able to withdraw from teaching when a rich widow, Nadezhda von Meck, offered him financial support which continued for much of his life, although, according to the original conditions of the pension, they never met. Tchaikovsky was a man of neurotic diffidence, his self-doubt increased by his homosexuality. It is now suggested by some that an impending scandal caused him to take his own life at a time when he was at the height of his powers as a composer. His music is thoroughly Russian in character, but, although he was influenced by Balakirev and the ideals of the Five Russian nationalist composers, he may be seen as belonging rather to the more international school of composition fostered by the Conservatories that Balakirev so much deplored.

The first of Tchaikovsky's full length ballet-scores was Swan Lake, completed in 1876, followed in 1889 by The Sleeping Beauty. His last ballet, based on a story by E.T.A. Hoffmann, was Nutcracker, first staged in St. Petersburg in December 1892. (The music of Swan Lake is presented in the Ol'Kunnel's Jukebox as the theme of the motion picture "M" made in 1931.)

The first of Tchaikovsky's three piano concertos has become the most generally popular of all romantic piano concertos. Piano Concerto No. 1 can be enjoyed on another jukebox page of the Ol'Kunnel.

M (1931). Starring Peter Lorre (film debut), Gustav Grundgens, Ellen Widman, and Inge Land gut. A film full of suspense and psychological crime drama, brilliantly directed by Fritz Lang. Lorre plays a pitiable, disturbed child murderer in Berlin, and the film offers and intriguing delineation of the painstaking methods employed by the police and the underworld, both out to trap the killer. The first of Tchaikovsky's full length ballet-scores was Swan Lake, completed in 1876. It was whistled by Lorre whenever he was about to do his foul work. Since seeing the motion picture, the Ol'Kunnel remembers it whenever he hears the opening music of "Swan Lake."

Just recently the Old Kunnel watched the following motion picture on the American Movie Classics channel. He was mildly surprised and pleased to find Swan Lake was the introductory theme to it also.

Dracula (1931). Starring Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloan, David Manners. The seminal American horror classic. The eerie atmosphere of the film conveys a strong sense of dread, and Mr. Lugosi plays his role with hypnotic conviction. The static camera work actually emerges as an asset, there is very little movement to disturb the Transylvanian mist or the London fog, and the becalmed style suits the subject perfectly. It is not hard to understand why this motion picture type cast Mr. Lugosi for life even though he had played the part on stage. However, it was the movie role that personified Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula. When Mr. Lugosi died, he was buried wearing his cape as a final testament to one of the supreme icons of the genre.