Dances from The Oprichnik

Peter I. Tchaikovsky

Peter I. Tchaikovsky (arr. John R. Bourgeois)

General Info

Year: 1872 / 2008
Duration: c. 6:05
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Orchestra
Publisher: Wingert-Jones
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $90.00; (digital) - $90.00 | Score Only (print) - $15.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-II-III
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion, including:

Bass Drum
Crash Cymbals
Tambourine
Triangle

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

These dances display Tchaikovsky's remarkable grasp of symphonic writing and are among the very best of his dance sequences. Carefully transcribed for band, they are taken from the opera The Oprichnik. The Oprichnik were the personal bodyguards of Tsar Ivan the Terrible.

The opening dance features various woodwind solo passages that display a hauntingly poignant Slavic flavor. The second dance begins vigorously and surges forward with ever-increasing accelerandi that lead to a fiery conclusion. [Both dances are taken from Act IV and both, curiously, bear the same title, Dances of Oprichniks and Women.]

- Program Note from publisher

The Oprichnik (The Guardsman) is an opera in 4 acts, 5 scenes, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) to his own libretto after the tragedy The Oprichniks by Ivan Lazhechnikov (1792–1869). The subject of the opera is the oprichniks. It is set in Ivan the Terrible's court during the oprichnina times (1565–1573).

Tchaikovsky worked on the opera from February 1870 - March 1872. It includes music from his early opera The Voyevoda (1869). The work is dedicated to the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich Romanov. It was given its premiere performance at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg on 24 April 1874.

- Program Note from Wikipedia

Media

Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown
Audio: Reference recording. U.S. Army Field Band (Thomas H. Palmatier, conductor)
Audio CD: University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Wind Orchestra (Thomas G. Leslie, conductor) - 2008

State Ratings

Florida: V
North Carolina: VI
Oregon: VI-A

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.) Wind Symphony (Joseph Hermann, conductor) – 6 October 2019
State College (Penn.) Area Municipal Band (Ned Deihl, conductor)– 14 May 2017
East Winds Symphonic Band (Pittsburgh, Penn.) (Susan Sands, conductor) – 2 April 2016 (ACB 2016 Annual Convention (Pittsburgh, Penn.))
2014 Wisconsin State Honors Band - 2014
United States Army Field Band (Washington, D.C.) (Thomas H. Palmatier, conductor) – 17 December 2008 (2008 Midwest Clinic)

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

Douce Rêverie (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Vernay) (1878/2020)
Scenes from "Swan Lake" (Adaptable Band) (arr. Fisher) (1876/2016)
Themes from "1812 Overture" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Vinson) (1891/2008)
Themes from "The Nutcracker" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Huckeby) (1891/1999/2010)

All Wind Works

The 3-Minute Nutcracker (arr. Conley) (1891/2010)
1812 (arr. Brown) (1880/1938)
1812 Overture. See also: Overture 1812
1812 Overture (arr. Lake) (1880)
1812 Overture (arr. Kimura) (1880)
1812 Overture (arr. Mol) (1880)
1812 Overture (arr. Laurendeau; ed. Schissel) (1880/1904/2010)
1812 Overture (arr. Whitcomb) (1880)
1812 Overture (arr. Williams) (1880/1997)
1812 Overture (tr. Patterson) (1880)
Album for the Young (Op. 39) (arr. Curnow) (1878/2007)
Andante Cantabile (arr. Safranek) (/1913)
Capriccio Italien (tr. Hindsley) (1880/1984)
Chanson Triste (arr. Reed) (1878/1989)
Characteristic Dances from "The Nutcracker Suite" (tr. Rogan; ed. McAllster and Reed)
Coronation March (arr. Van Grevenbroek) (1883/2013)
Cossak Dance (tr. Bourgeois) (2008)
Dance of the Jesters (arr. Cramer) (1873/1997)
Dance of the Reed Flutes (arr. Cook) (1892/1990)
Dance of the Reed Flutes (arr. Schwalbe) (1892/2015?)
Dances from The Oprichnik (tr. Bourgeois) (1872/2008)
Dances des mirlitons (arr. Buitenhuis) (1892/)
Douce Rêverie (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Vernay) (1878/2020)
Echoes from a Russian Cathedral (arr. Singleton) (1878-1883/2005)
Entry March from "Swan Lake" (tr. Billis) (1877/1996)
Faeries (arr. Davis; adapt. Longfield) (1891/)
Fantasy on "March Slav" (arr. Bobrowitz) (1876/2019)
Festive Overture on the Danish National Anthem (arr. Godfrey) (1908)
Final Scene from "Swan Lake," Act IV (1876) (arr. Lienhart) (1876/2012)
Finale from "Concerto for Violin" (arr. Howey) (1878/2008)
Finale from Symphony in F minor No. 4 (arr. Balent). See: Finale from Symphony No. 4
Finale from Symphony in F minor No. 4 (arr. Brooks) (1878/)
Finale from Symphony in F minor No. 4 (tr. Hindsley) (1878/197-?)
Finale from Symphony in F minor No 4 (arr. Safranek; ed. Ragsdale) (1878/1912/2004)
Finale from Symphony in F minor No. 4 (arr. Sato) (1878/2014)
Finale from Symphony in F minor No. 4 (arr. Singleton) (1878/1912/2003)
Finale from Symphony No. 2 (arr. Williams) (1872/1880/2002)
Finale from Symphony No. 4 (arr. Balent) (1878/2005)
Gems of Tchaikovsky (arr. Clark) (1917)
Highlights from "1812 Overture" (arr. Hanna) (1880/1997)
Jurisprudence (arr. Godfrey) (1885/1909)
Le Lac des Cygnes: Act I, Scene 1 (arr. Nefs) (1876/)
Mad Russian's Christmas, A (arr. Phillips and Megaw) (1891/1996/2015)
March from "The Sleeping Beauty" (arr. Bourgeois) (1890/2018)
March Slav (tr. Daehn) (1876/1994)
March Slav (tr. Hindsley) (1876/197-?)
March Slav (orch. Simpson) (1876/2000)
Marche Slav (arr. Laurendeau) (1876/1906)
Marche Slave (arr. Godfrey) (1876/1917)
Miniature Overture from "Suite from 'The Nutcracker'" (tr. Rogan; ed. McAlister and Reed) (1892/2001)
None but the Lonely Heart (arr. Kimura) (1869/2007)
Nutcracker Fantasia (arr. Giroux) (1891/2012)
The Nutcracker Fantasy (arr. Yo Goto) (1891/)
Nutcracker Suite (arr. Lake) (1891/1924)
Nutcracker Suite (arr. Curnow) (1891/1987)
Nutcracker Suite (arr. Lavender) (1891/1999)
Nutcracker Sweets (arr. Corwell) (1891/2010)
The Nutty Nutcracker (arr. Hannickel) (1891/2006)
Overture 1812. See also: 1812 Overture
Overture 1812 (arr. Story and Smith) (1882/2012)
Overture from "The Nutcracker" (arr. Ballenger III) (1891/)
Petite Suite (arr. Cray) (1878/1946)
Polonaise from "Third Suite" (arr. Godfrey) (1884/1916)
Romeo and Juliet (trans. Hindsley) (1870/?)
Romeo and Juliet (trans. Holcombe) (1870/1981)
Scenes from "Swan Lake" (Adaptable Band) (arr. Fisher) (1876/2016)
Scenes from "The Nutcracker" (arr. Story) (1884/2010)
Selections from "The Nutcracker Suite" (arr. Hartman) (1884/2013)
Selections from "The Nutcracker Suite" (arr. Longfield) (1884/1992)
Sleeping Beauty, The (arr. Bennett) (1960)
Sleeping Beauty: Waltz (arr. Eilhardt) (1889)
Sugar Plum Reggae (arr. Fraley) (1891/2012)
Suite from "Swan Lake" (tr. Yodo) (1876/)
Suite from the Ballet "The Swan Lake" (arr. Godfrey) (1876/1911)
Suite No. 3 in G Major (tr. Winterbottom) (1884/1937)
Symphony No. 4 Finale (arr. Fyffe) (1878/2000)
Symphony No. 6: Third Movement Finale (arr. Daehn) (1893/2007)
Symphony No. 6 (arr. Hindsley)
- Symphony No. 6 -- First Movement (arr. Hindsley) (1893/197-?)
- Symphony No. 6 -- Third Movement (arr. Hindsley) (1893/197-?)
Tchaikovsky Ballet Suite (arr. Bourgeois) (2012)
Tchaikovsky Highlights (arr. Van der Beek) (2019)
Tchaikovsky Suite (scored Barnes) (1878/2004)
Tchaikovskyana (arr. Daehn) (1979/2015)
Tchaikovsky's Greatest Hits (arr. Moss) (2003)
Theme and Variations from "Suite in G Major" (arr. Winterbottom) (1884/1937)
Themes from "1812 Overture" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Vinson) (1891/2008)
Themes from "The Nutcracker" (arr. Huckeby) (1891/2010/2013)
Themes from "The Nutcracker" (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Huckeby) (1891/1999/2010)
Themes from "The Nutcracker Suite" (arr. Johnson) (1891/1952)
Three Chorales for Band (with Handel and Pasquini; arr. Thornton) (1992/2004)
Three Dances from "The Maid of Orleans" (tr. Bourgeois) (1879/2007)
Three Onegin Dances (arr. Van der Beek)
Two Excerpts from "The Pathetic Symphony" (arr. Fletcher) (1893/1912)
Violin Concerto in D Major (trans. Lane) (1878/2020)
Waltz from "Sleeping Beauty" (tr. Lake) (1889/1937)
Waltz of the Flowers (tr. Lake) (1892/1919)
Winter from "The Four Seasons" (as arranger)

Resources

The Oprichnik, Wikipedia Accessed 14 May 2017
Tchaikovsky, P.; Bourgeois, J. (2008). Dances from The Oprichnik [score]. Wingert-Jones Publications: Kansas City, Mo.