Nuron Mukumi

“In 15 days I wrote 18 of them and today I sent them to Moscow.” Tchai kov sky’s letter, written on the 4 th of May 1893 to his younger brother Modest, reads rather dryly like a report, with no trace of joy or even pride. In Moscow, his compositions were immediately passed on to Pyotr Jurgen son for printing. Elsewhere, he called them pancakes, of which he baked one every day, again downplaying their importance. These under state ments only become clear when one delves into the 18 pieces for piano. For Tchaikovsky modestly failed to mention that he had composed highly vir tuosic piano music and that its performance requires aconsiderable 70 minutes of play ing time. All in all, a record-breaking genesis, for in the two weeks of their creation, there can hardly have been time to rethink, correct or polish. Tchaikovsky must have composed an average of five minutes of music per day, from the initial idea, to its elaboration, to the legible draft for printing. Usually, the notation alone takes an entire working day. Thus, the individual pieces must have been written down quasi al fresco in one go from the first idea to the finished piece.