Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and the Belyayev circle
This group was named after timber merchant Mitrofan Belyayev, an amateur musician who became an influential music patron and publisher after he had taken an interest in Alexander Glazunov's work.
As a result of the time Tchaikovsky spent with the Belyayev circle's leading composers—Glazunov, Anatoly Lyadov and Rimsky-Korsakov—the somewhat fraught relationship he had previously endured with The Five would eventually meld into something more harmonious.
Even Glazunov backed away from echoing Tchaikovsky strongly in his mature work, instead amalgamating nationalistic and cosmopolitan styles in an eclectic approach.
During 1884, the 44-year-old Tchaikovsky began to shed the unsociability and restlessness that had plagued him since his abortive marriage in 1878, and which had caused him to travel incessantly throughout Russia and Western Europe.
[3] This rehabilitation may have been cemented in the composer's mind with the success of his Third Orchestral Suite at its January 1885 premiere in St. Petersburg, under Hans von Bülow's direction.
[4] To this end, he helped support his former pupil Sergei Taneyev, now director of the Moscow Conservatory, by attending student examinations and negotiating the sometimes sensitive relations among various members of the staff.
In this post, he invited a number of international celebrities to conduct, including Johannes Brahms, Antonín Dvořák and Jules Massenet.
[8] Within a year of the Cherevichki performances, Tchaikovsky was in considerable demand throughout Europe and Russia, which helped him overcome a life-long stage fright and boosted his self-assurance.
[20] In his diary, Tchaikovsky confided, "Read [Rimsky-]Korsakov's Snow Maiden and marveled at his mastery and was even (ashamed to admit) envious".
"[25] Tchaikovsky studied the score for Glazunov's First String Quartet, and wrote his brother Modest, "Despite its imitation of [Rimsky-]Korsakov ... a remarkable talent is discernible.
[34] While Nadezhda von Meck insisted on anonymity in her patronage in the tradition of noblesse oblige, Belyayev, Mamontov and Tretyakov "wanted to contribute conspicuously to public life".
[35] Belyayev set up an advisory council, made up of Glazunov, Lyadov and Rimsky-Korsakov, to select which among the many composers appealing for help should be assisted, either through money, publication or performances.
[45] In the nine intervening years, Mussorgsky and Borodin had both died, Balakirev had banished himself to the musical sidelines, and Cui's critical missives had lost much of their sting for Tchaikovsky.
[21] When these arrangements did not arise as planned, Tchaikovsky made urgent covert attempts to make good on his promises, especially to Rimsky-Korsakov, whom he now called "an outstanding figure ... worthy of every respect".
[21] In December 1887, on the eve of his departure to tour as a guest conductor through Western Europe, Tchaikovsky stopped in Saint Petersburg and consulted with Glazunov, Lyadov and Rimsky-Korsakov on a detailed program of Russian music that he might lead in Paris.
He decided to present the young composer a copy of the score of his Manfred Symphony, and once he had actually met the person whom Tchaikovsky authority David Brown called "indolent, fastidious, very private yet very engaging", his attitude toward Lyadov took a sharp turn for the better.
[21] Two concerts Tchaikovsky heard in Saint Petersburg in January 1889, where his music shared the programs with compositions by the New Russian School (as the Belyayev circle was also called), proved a major watershed.
[57] He wrote to Nadezhda von Meck that while he found Cui to be "an individual deeply hateful to me ... this in no way hinders me from respecting or loving such representatives of the school as Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Lyadov, Glazunov, or from considering myself flattered to appear on the concert platform beside them".
[61] Rimsky-Korsakov wrote, "In the winter of spring of 1891 [actually 1890[62]] Tchaikovsky came to Saint Petersburg on quite a long visit, and from then dated his closer intimacy with Belyayev's circle, particularly with Glazunov, Lyadov, and me.
Taruskin writes that the seventh scene of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Christmas Eve, written in 1895, is "replete with 'wig and farthingale' music", based on the second act of The Queen of Spades.
"[69] About this eclecticism, and Tchaikovsky's part in it, Rimsky-Korsakov wrote in his memoirs, seemingly matter-of-factly, "By this time quite an accretion of new elements and young blood had accumulated in Belyayev's circle.
[73] At the first of these appearances, on October 28, 1893, Tchaikovsky conducted the premiere of his Sixth Symphony, along with his First Piano Concerto with Adele aus der Ohe as soloist.
The program included the Fourth Symphony, Francesca da Rimini, Marche Slave and some solo piano works played by Felix Blumenfeld.
[77] These traits would hold true for works by other Belyayev composers, as well, with the "gradual academization of the Russian school" leading to "the emergence of production-line 'Russian style' pieces, polished and correct, but lacking originality".
[78] Tchaikovsky's music remained popular in Russia as well as abroad, and his scholarly prowess was admired by the Belyayev circle; however, these composers chose not to emulate his style.
[41] Composers who wished to be part of this group and desired Belyayev's patronage had to write in a musical style approved by Glazunov, Lyadov and Rimsky-Korsakov.
[80] Dmitri Shostakovich would complain about Steinberg's musical conservatism, typified by such phrases as "the inviolable foundations of the kuchka", and the "sacred traditions of Nikolai Andreyevich [Rimsky-Korsakov]".
Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov became director of the Moscow Conservatory, where Tchaikovsky had once exerted great influence, and Reinhold Glière likewise in Kiev, ensuring that these institutes "retained a direct link with the Belyayev aesthetic".
It is enough to glance at a single page of music by one of the fathers to say with certainty that it is the work of Borodin, Balakirev, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, or [Rimsky-]Korsakov.
"[86] Taruskin adds, The institutionalization and professionalization of musical life against which Stasov had fought tooth and nail in the 1860s was now a fait accompli, and composers of the New Russian School occupied all seats of authority.
