Robert Greenberg

Historian, Composer, Pianist, Speaker, Author

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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) in 1888

Music History Monday: Unplayable

December 4th, 2023

We mark the premiere on December 4, 1881 – 142 years ago today – of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s one-and-only violin concerto, his Violin Concerto in D major.  It received its premiere in Vienna, where it was performed by the violinist Adolf Brodsky and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Hans Richter. The concerto is, in my humble opinion, Tchaikovsky’s single greatest work and one of a handful of greatest concerti ever composed.   Yet its…

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