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==The Authenticity of the "Third Version"==

Despite the fact that the so-called "third version" of the concerto is almost exclusively the one performed today, its authenticity has long been disputed. Soon after the composer's death, some of his contemporaries (including [[Sergey Taneyev]], [[Aleksandr Glazunov]], [[Karl Klindworth]] and [[Frits Hartvigson]]) questioned whether the changes introduced into the third version reflected Tchaikovsky's own intentions, or if they had been made by others after his death <ref name="note1"/>. The editors of the concerto in the Soviet and Academic Editions of Tchaikovsky's complete works each published only the first and second versions, while stating flatly that the third version "could not be proved to originate from Tchaikovsky himself" <ref name="note2"/>. They argued that, although Tchaikovsky is known to have worked on a new version of the concerto for the German publisher [[Daniel Rahter]] in 1888 and 1889, there is no conclusive evidence that this was indeed the third version as we know it to day, or even that it was actually published before the composer's death in 1893. This confusion occurs because Tchaikovsky's main publisher in Russia, [[Pyotr Jurgenson]], re-used the same plate numbers for the concerto's various editions.

On the other hand, [[Rahter]]'s "Neue, revidiert Ausgabe" was advertised in ''Hofmeisters Monatsberichte'' for August 1889 (reduction for two pianos) <ref name="note3"/> and June 1890 (full score and parts) <ref name="note4"/>, and around this time Jurgenson also advertised a "3-me édition, revue et corrigée" in his own catalogues. The question is whether this was the version familiar to us today, or simply a revised reprint the second version (from 1879), lacking the cut in the finale or the changes to the piano chords at the start of the first movement, etc.

In her review of volumes covering the concerto in the Academic Edition of the Complete Works <ref name="note5"/>, Lucinde Braun points out that on the title page of a copy of the orchestral score of the third version, "F. Mackar" is named as the French distributor of the concerto. Since [[Félix Mackar]]'s firm merged with that of Albert Noël early in 1889, this must indicate that the title page had been prepared before this merger occurred, or at least at a point in the publication stage when it was too late to change this to "Mackar & Noël". But is it possible that this outdated cover could have somehow been used for on later edition of the concerto?

A crucial piece of evidence can be found in the ''Bibliographie de la France'' for 4 January 1890, in the section "Works and repositories of works published abroad" <ref name="note6"/>:
[[File:TH055C-bf.jpg|center]]
This shows that the firm of Mackar & Noël, as the sole distributors of Tchaikovsky's works in France and Belgium at that time, registered Jurgenson's new edition of the two-piano reduction of the concerto, in its "3e édition, revue et corrigée", for copyright purposes with the French national bibliography. The plate number (2592) corresponds to Jurgenson's edition, rather than [[Rahter]]'s (plate 2920), indicating that they came out almost simultaneously. This was common practice by Jurgenson at the time in order to secure copyright status outside Russia <ref name="note7"/>. Sometimes the western publishers would issue Jurgenson's scores with different title pages, and occasionally (as in this case), bring out their own engravings and plates. The cover pages would typically name all the publishers and distributors: for example, Gustave Sennewald was Jurgenson's distributor for Tchaikovsky's works in Warsaw until 1903.

It is inconceivable that Jurgenson could have published a new edition of the concerto without Tchaikovsky's knowledge. Their correspondence around this time shows that the composer was carefully reviewing many of his earlier scores in order to produce revised or corrected editions, and he insisted on reviewing and proofreading all new editions before they were published.

The ''Bibliographie'' entry also happens to tell us which version of the concerto was represented in this edition. The overall length of the first and second movements (in terms of numbers of bars, rather than tempi) is the same in all three versions, but in the third version the finale was shortened from 313 to 301 bars. As a result, Jurgenson's editions of the full score and two-piano reduction each have one fewer page in their third version compared with their predecessors. The full score was reduced to 153 pages instead of 154, and the two-piano reduction to 66 pages instead of 67. This means that the entry in the ''Bibliographie'' (66 pages) can refer only to the third version, with its shorter finale.

No editions of the concerto have yet been found that include the third version's shorter finale, while retaining the previous versions of the first two movements, indicating that the three movements were all revised at the same time. This means we can now state with confidence that the version of the concerto that is most familiar to us was certainly published during Tchaikovsky's lifetime (in late 1889), and with his full knowledge and consent.

Just as with the [[Symphony No. 2]] and the overture-fantasia ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'', the earlier versions of the Piano Concerto No. 1 represent important stages in Tchaikovsky's creative development, and they should continue to be heard and performed in that context. But perhaps now a critical edition of the Tchaikovsky's most famous concerto, in its ultimate and definitive form, is long overdue.
{{right|Brett Langston<br/>February 2022}}

==Notes and References==
<references>
<ref name="note1">See {{bib|2008/13}} (2008), p. 67-68.</ref>
<ref name="note2">See the editorial prefaces to {{bib|1955/34}} (1955) and {{bib|2015/20}} (2015), etc. The editors of the latter edition also cite a printed edition of the concerto's second version conducting notes by Tchaikovsky, which is preserved in the composer's archive at [[Klin]]. He conducted the concerto on a total of eleven occasions betweeen January 1888 and October 1893, and it remains unclear whether these notes were made for performances before or after the new edition appeared in 1889/90, or whether any cuts were indicated in the third movement.</ref>
<ref name="note3">https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-buch?apm=0&aid=1000001&bd=0001889&teil=0203&seite=00000309&zoom=1</ref>
<ref name="note4">https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-buch?apm=0&aid=1000001&bd=0001890&teil=0203&seite=00000242&zoom=1</ref>
<ref name="note5">See Lucinde Braun, {{bib|2016/7}} (2016), p. 87. Available online at: http://www.tschaikowsky-gesellschaft.de/index_htm_files/082-128%20Mitt%202016%20Besprechungen%20Mitteilungen.pdf</ref>
<ref name="note6">'Ouvrages et dépots des ouvrages publiés a l'étranger', in ''Journal général de l'imprimerie et de la librairie'', 79e Année, 2e série, No. 1 (4 Janvier 1890), last page (unnumbered). The journal's supplement ''Chronique'' for 25 January 1890 (p. 15) includes a further entry (No.3801) which may relate to the full score of the concerto, unfortunately without any plate or page numbers, stating that it was registered for copyright in December 1889. Both publications are online at http://books.google.com/books?id=ZIQ7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA0</ref>
<ref name="note7">See, for example, Thomas Kohlhase, {{bib|2001/9}} (2001). Online at http://www.tschaikowsky-gesellschaft.de/index_htm_files/08-4.pdf</ref>
</references>

Talk:Piano Concerto No. 1 - Revision history

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