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Arts & Communication Artists recreating our world

to his friend Natalya Skalon, “Tchaikovsky criticizes me of the opera, Tchaikovsky, leaning out of the box,
terribly for the transcription, quite reasonably and justly. Of applauded with all his might, realizing how this would
all transcriptions, mine is undoubtedly the worst.” (p. 8) help a new composer.” (p. 18) 28
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Tchaikovsky had written of his profound disappointment What clues, then, does Rachmaninoff’s relationship
at Rachmaninoff’s transcription, declaring, “In general, with Tchaikovsky offer about how artists receive support
inexperience and lack of boldness can be sensed at every early on in their careers? Mentors are not necessarily
step.” (p. 35) Later revisions appeased Tchaikovsky, and enamored of their protégé. There are times when mentors
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yet, interestingly, Rachmaninoff was not crushed by this call their mentees to account and challenge some of their
brutal assessment of his mentor.
prevailing logic. Thus, this relationship must be marked by
Tchaikovsky taught Rachmaninoff important high levels of trust, for without this underpinning, those
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diplomatic skills, especially when speaking to conductors. stark realities may inhibit rather than encourage. Further,
A composer can be sensitive about their work, and equally, an environment of reciprocity is established where both
a conductor, when preparing that work for performance, parties give and receive. The mentoring relationship,
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may be defensive about his or her role as artist-in-chief. In then, is one that is fecund and can be mutually supportive
1893, the two composers, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, and productive for both parties.
attended rehearsals of Aleko, which was to be performed This was the case with another of Rachmaninoff’s
at the Moscow Grand Theater under the baton of Ippolit mentors, Rimsky-Korsakov. The young musician had
Altani. Rachmaninoff recalled:
studied Rimsky-Korsakov’s compositions and had
“I cannot describe how thrilled I was at the orchestral even contemplated leaving Moscow and returning to
sound of my own music. I was in the seventh heaven. St Petersburg to study with him. Rimsky-Korsakov had
Tchaikovsky attended the last three rehearsals. We taken an interest in Rachmaninoff’s career and attended
sat together in a corner of the darkened house. rehearsals of the first symphony. His assessment, though
Altani’s conception of some parts did not please diplomatic, was blunt. As Rachmaninoff later wrote:
me. I remember the following dialogue between “The work made a very bad impression on the St
Tchaikovsky and myself:
Tchaikovsky: ‘Do you like this tempo?’ Petersburg musicians who were present. ‘Forgive
me, but I do not find this music at all agreeable,’ said
Myself: ‘No.’ Rimsky-Korsakov to me in his dry and unsparing
Tchaikovsky: ‘Why don’t you tell them?’ manner at a rehearsal.” (p. 98) 20
Myself: ‘I am afraid.’
However, Tchaikovsky could not stand it for long, and Yet, as Garcia records, Rachmaninoff was able to “shake
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during an interval, he cleared his throat and said: ‘Mr. off his former prejudices and become rather close friends
Rachmaninoff and I think that the tempo here might with Rimsky-Korsakov.” (p. 22) This change in attitude
be taken a little quicker.’ represented a new openness on Rachmaninoff’s part, in
He was always scrupulously polite in making such that he set aside “all my Muscovite prejudice against the
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suggestions.” (p. 86–87) 20 great St Petersburg composer” (p. 127); an openness that
Further, Rachmaninoff reported how much he valued is a necessary forerunner to becoming a successful artist.
Tchaikovsky’s affirmation. In 1893, his opera Aleko was Rachmaninoff did not have such a productive
to be performed. Remembering back on that period, relationship with Galzunov, however. In 1896, the music
Rachmaninoff wrote: publisher Mitrofan Belyayev had agreed to a performance
“I think success depended not so much on the quality of the first symphony, and because Galzunov had conducted
of the opera as much as on Tchaikovsky’s attitude a performance of The Rock in that year, Rachmaninoff
toward it, for he liked it very much. By the way, at one wrote to him requesting that he conduct the symphony at
of the rehearsals, Tchaikovsky said to me, ‘I have just the proposed 1897 Russian Symphony Concert funded by
finished a two-act [sic] opera Iolanta, which is not long Belyayev. Glazunov agreed but was cavalier in his attitude.
Rachmaninoff was rightly aggrieved. Glazunov was “drunk
enough to take up a whole evening. Would you object on the podium” (p. 23) and in a letter to his composer
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to its being performed with your opera?’ He literally friend, Alexander Zatayevich, some 5 weeks after the
said: ‘Would you object...?’ He was 53, a famous
composer, but I was a novice of 20! Tchaikovsky, of performance, complained,
course, attended the premiere of Aleko, and at his “I am amazed how such a highly talented man as
insistence, the director of the Imperial Theaters Glazunov can conduct so badly. I am not speaking
Vsevolozhsky came from St Petersburg. At the end now of his conducting technique (one cannot ask that

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2024) 6 https://doi.org/10.36922/ac.2126