Tschaikowsky (and Other Russians)

Last updated

"Tschaikowsky (and Other Russians)" is a patter song with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and music by Kurt Weill, first performed by American comedian Danny Kaye in the 1941 Broadway musical Lady in the Dark . Gershwin used the spelling "Tschaikowsky" from the German transliteration (used by German music publishers of the period) in place of the more widely accepted modern transliteration Tchaikovsky. [1]

"Tschaikowsky (and Other Russians)" is not a song in the normal sense of the term: it is a rhyming list of fifty Russian composers' names, which Kaye rattled off (in a speaking, not singing, voice) as rapidly as possible. At each performance, Kaye tried to break his previous speed record for reciting this song: consequently, it was intended to be recited a cappella (without instrumental accompaniment), as the orchestra could not keep up with him. The performance launched Kaye's career. [2]

One of the names in the song is "Dukelsky"; this is actually the birth name of Vernon Duke, an American composer. Similarly, Stanisław Moniuszko, Witold Maliszewski and Leopold Godowsky are ethnic Poles. All four of these men were, however, born within the Russian empire.

The song was originally a nonsense poem which Ira Gershwin had published in a college newspaper under the name "Arthur Francis" (derived from the names of his other brother Arthur and his sister Frances) in his student days. Decades later, in his memoir Lyrics on Several Occasions , Ira Gershwin expressed the hope that someone might accuse him of plagiarizing his song "Tschaikowsky" from the collegiate poem, so he could reveal that he and Arthur Francis were the same person.

List of composers

With adjustments to Gershwin's spelling, here are the Russian composers mentioned in the song, in order: Witold Maliszewski, Anton Rubinstein, Anton Arensky, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Wassily Sapellnikoff, Nikolai Dmitriev-Svechin, Alexander Tcherepnin, Ivan Kryzhanovsky, Leopold Godowsky, Nikolai Artsybushev, Stanisław Moniuszko, Fyodor Akimenko, Nicolai Soloviev, Sergei Prokofiev, Dimitri Tiomkin, Arseny Koreshchenko, Mikhail Glinka, Alexander Winkler, Dmitry Bortniansky, Vladimir Rebikov, Alexander Ilyinsky, Nikolai Medtner, Mily Balakirev, Vasily Zolotarev, Pyotr Abramovich Khvoshchinsky, Nikolay Sokolov, Alexander Kopylov, Vernon Duke (born Dukelsky), Nikolay Klenovsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, Alexander Borodin, Reinhold Glière, David Nowakowsky, Anatoly Lyadov, Genari Karganoff, Igor Markevitch, Semyon Panchenko, Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Vladimir Shcherbachov, Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Vasilenko, Igor Stravinsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Modest Mussorgsky, Alexander Gretchaninov, Alexander Glazunov, César Cui, Vasily Kalinnikov, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Joseph Rumshinsky.

Related Research Articles

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Russian composer (1840-1893)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He was honored in 1884 by Tsar Alexander III and awarded a lifetime pension.

Saint Petersburg Conservatory

The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory, also known as the Leningrad Conservatory, is a school of music in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 2004, the conservatory had around 275 faculty members and 1,400 students.

Vernon Duke Musical artist

Vernon Duke was an American composer/songwriter who also wrote under his birth name, Vladimir Dukelsky. He is best known for "Taking a Chance on Love," with lyrics by Ted Fetter and John Latouche (1940), "I Can't Get Started," with lyrics by Ira Gershwin (1936), "April in Paris," with lyrics by E. Y. ("Yip") Harburg (1932), and "What Is There To Say," for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1934, also with Harburg. He wrote the words and music for "Autumn in New York" (1934) for the revue Thumbs Up! In his book, American Popular Song, The Great Innovators 1900-1950, composer Alec Wilder praises this song, writing, “The verse may be the most ambitious I’ve ever seen." Duke also collaborated with lyricists Johnny Mercer, Ogden Nash, and Sammy Cahn.

Alexander Siloti Russian pianist, conductor and composer

Alexander Ilyich Siloti was a Russian pianist, conductor and composer.

Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky Order of chivalry in the Russian Empire

The Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was an order of chivalry of the Russian Empire first awarded on 1 June [O.S. 21 May] 1725 by Empress Catherine I of Russia.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) was a Russian composer.

Private Opera

The Private Opera, also known as:

<i>Tchaikovsky</i> (film) 1970 film

Tchaikovsky is a 1970 Soviet biopic film directed by Igor Talankin. It featured Innokenty Smoktunovsky in the role of the famous Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film as well as the Academy Award for Original Song Score and Adaptation.

Mykola Vilinsky Ukrainian composer

Mykola Vilinsky was a Ukrainian composer and a professor at the Odessa and Kiev Conservatories.

The following is a chronological list of classical music composers who live in, work in, or are citizens of Russia, or who have done so.

Henryk Pachulski

Henryk Pachulski was a Polish-born pianist, composer and teacher who spent most of his life in Russia.

Aleksandr Verzhbilovich

Aleksandr Valerianovich Verzhbilovich was a Russian classical cellist of Polish descent.

Saint Petersburg State University Faculty of Law

The Faculty of Law at Saint Petersburg State University is the oldest law school and one of the biggest research centers in Russia.

<i>Song of My Heart</i> 1948 film directed by Benjamin Glazer

Song of My Heart is a 1948 American historical drama film directed by Benjamin Glazer and starring Frank Sundström, Audrey Long and Cedric Hardwicke. It is a highly fictionalised biopic of the nineteenth century Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

The Leaders of the Russian Civil War listed below comprise the important political and military figures of the Russian Civil War. The conflict, fought largely from 7 November 1917 to 25 October 1922, though with some conflicts in the Far East lasting until late 1923 and in Central Asia until 1934, was fought between numerous factions, the two largest being the Bolsheviks and the White Movement. While the Bolsheviks were centralized under the administration of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), led by Vladimir Lenin, along with their various satellite and buffer states, the White Movement was more decentralized, functioning as a loose confederation of anti-Bolshevik forces united only in opposition to their common enemy, though from September 1918 to April 1920, the White Armies were nominally united under the administration of the Russian State, during which, for nearly two years, Admiral Alexander Kolchak served as the overall head of the White Movement and as the internationally recognized Head of State of Russia. In addition to the two primary factions, the war also involved a number of third parties, including the anarchists of the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine, and the non-ideological Green Armies.

References

  1. ↑ Gershwin, Ira (1959). Lyrics on Several Occasions (First ed.). New York: Knopf. OCLC   538209.
  2. ↑ NY Times: Danny Kaye obituary
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.