The decorative arts of 19th-century Russia abounded in glowing jewels, gleaming enamels and radiant cathedral colors. Under the Romanov czars, music especially reflected this love of the richly hued, and compositions drenched in wondrous sound were produced by one Russian after another.
But, surrounded as he was by manmade beauty, the upper-class Russian of the time was forced to escape from the bleak landscapes of his homeland by journeying to the colorful lands in the south of Europe. In Italy and Spain, especially, he could bask in the warmth of the sun, revel in the dazzle of the sky, and exult in the vivacity of the Latin temperament-all the while refreshing and revitalizing his normally wintry spirits.
Two especially well-traveled Russians of the late 19th century were Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov and Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky. Both were thoroughly at home in the world outside the confines of Russia-Rimsky-Korsakov through naval service, Tchaikovsky through his extensive concert tours-and both were highly receptive to the exotic sights and sounds of foreign lands. Rimsky-Korsakov’s enthusiastic description of a visit to Rio de Janeiro in 1863 is typical of his affection for things Latin : “The water in the bay was green-blue by day and phosphorescent at night, the shore and mountains a gorgeous green…The market was filled with endless quantities of oranges and wonderful bananas, as well as monkeys and parrots. The New World, the Southern hemisphere, a tropical winter in June!” Then one can almost hear him sigh as the composer wrote: “Everything was different—not the same as with us in Russia.”
Although the called himself “Russian in the fullest sense of the word, “Tchaikovsky was not regarded as such by his strongly nationalistic fellow musicians. Because of his extensive conservatory training and the “western” influence they felt in his work, the Russian Five (Balakirev, Borodin, Cui, Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsanov) generally considered Tchaikovsky to be outside the mainstream of the all-Russian music movement.
Tchaikovsky was however, “Russian in the fullest sense” in his appreciation of folk music of his own country and of those he visited. While touring Italy during 1880, he settled for three months in Rome, taking up residence near the barracks of the Royal Cuirassiers. Here his ear was caught by lively Italian street songs and the music of the military ceremonies nearby. During this period he also delved into volumes of folk music in search of material to use in what he called “an Italian fantasy.” To his patroness, Mme von Meck, he wrote: “Thanks to the charming themes, some of which come from collections and some of which I have heard in the streets, this work will be effective.”
Tchaikovsky possessed a remarkable talent for instrumentation, instinctively scoring his works to obtain a maximum variety of color and the widest possible range of total effects. His Capriccio Italien, vibrant with the raw colors of its Italian song and dance rhythms, is one of his most popular works and shows the composer’s complete mastery of orchestration. Its music passes vigorously from the opening trumpet call (echoes of the Cuirassiers) through a slightly melancholy phrase to a climax of power and brilliance reminiscent of the popular Italian dance, the Tarantella. Listen to samples
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