Words, ideas and music : a study of Tchaikovsky's last completed work, the Six Songs, Opus 73

This study focuses on P.I. Tchaikovsky's last completed work, the richly symbolic Six Songs, Opus 73. It demonstrates for the first time how Tchaikovsky's significant literary talents impacted on his song output in general, and on this cycle of songs in particular, providing us also with new insights into his personality. The composer selected and sequenced the poems used for the Opus 73 set to form the cycle of texts himself. The resulting songs are underpinned by a network of internal connections, which parallel the techniques used in the original poems in remarkable ways and link subtly with coded fate messages found elsewhere in the composer's output. The study presents evidence which enhances Pyotr Il'ich's reputation as a skilled manipulator of words, ideas and music.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

d_ph

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

d_ph

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Birmingham

Year dc:date.issued

1999

Author dc:creator

• Rudeforth, Helen Elizabeth

• PG Slavic, Baltic, Albanian languages and literature
• ML Literature of music

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/666/2/Decl_IS_Rudeforth99PhD.gif

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etheses.bham.ac.uk:666