KNOW YOUR CLASSICS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 482, 17 September 1948, Page 17

KNOW YOUR CLASSICS

HIS

series of articles, written for "The Listener" \by

BESSIE

ROLLARD

, is designed to help the student and the interested

listener towards a more complete appreciation of good music, Each

article deals in outline with one accepted masterpiece and illustrates

its main ‘themes.

(11) Overture to "Hamlet," Op. 67° (Tchaikovski) ANY Suites of incidental music have been written for dramatic revivals of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Tchaikovski composed. an. Overture and sixteen incidental numbers for a performance in Petrograd, in 1891-this he dedicated to Edvard Grieg. To my knowlédge, only the Overture has stirvived. With his temperament, it is not surprising that Tchaikovski should be drawn to this drama; one feels that not only may he have considered himself a similar being to Shakespeare's Prince, but also that he was fully conversant with Hamlet's fatal affliction-hesitation at critical moments. Tchaikovski’s Overture to Hamlet ‘does not portray the story ia’ ‘the musicrather the music distils the psychological essence of the story, as it were-one senses the prevailing air of gloom and disaster, and the anguish of vacillation, which are relieved for a brief space only, when Ophelia’ s beauty and charm lighten the background of despair. Always one is conscious of the implacable approach of the tragic ending. The Overture begins with a slow introduction, giving out this theme in the lower strings- Rs

At bar twenty this is followed by a commanding figure-strings ascending, answered by wood-wind--. ;

A long transitional section based on those two themes prepares the way for the main subject, which is bold and’ rhythmic; this appears in bar 83, the melody being introduced by violins and flutes (in a low register) accompanied by the full orchestral forces with short, sharp chords-

Following a big climax the emotional tension gradually relaxes, and at bar 144 an oboe theme enters ("A" below); this leads to the second subject of the work introduced in bar 163 by cor anglais, clarinets and bassoons ("B" below)-

Once again a climax builds up at bar 183 the violins and upper wood-wind announce motif "A" below. In bar 196 appears a ponderous march rhythm in the. brass ("B" below) —

. Two succeeding climax points lead to a Grave section in which the emotional torment gradually calms down and at the end the music subsides into a mere whisper. of sound. : TCHAIKOVSKI’S OVERTURE TO HAMLET, Op. 67, will be heard from Station 3YZ Greymouth at 9.30 p.m. on Monday, September 20.