Illuminations: Anton Chekhov – the music in his writings and inspired by them
Illuminations: Anton Chekhov – the music in his writings and inspired by them
February 10th, 2022
DetailsRussian author Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) is noted for the many musical references in his works from short stories through 1-act vaudevilles to major plays such as Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. His writing likewise, inspired much music but strangely, little in his short lifetime.
In this two-part program, Peter Gardner explores this rich and diverse field from Chekhov’s friends, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov, to those who found him later – Shostakovich, Valentino Bucchi, Pierre-Octave Ferroud, Josef Boháč, Jiří Pauer, Dominic Argento, Thomas Pasatieri, Rodion Shchedrin, Valery Gavrilin, Sir William Walton, Peter Eötvös and Isidora Žebeljan – with excursions into Russian folk music and the music hall along the way.