Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky by Anton Arensky, Op. 35a

This is a literal transcription of the celebrated string-orchestra composition by one of Russia''s most romantic composers. It started out as the slow movement of his String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 35, for the unusual scoring of violin, viola, and 2 cellos. It was written in 1894, the year after the death of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, in a tribute to that composer. It is based on the theme from the song "Legend", the fifth of Tchaikovsky''s Sixteen Children''s Songs, Op. 54. Tchaikovsky''s song was originally set to a poem in English called "Roses and Thorns" by the American poet Richard Henry Stoddard. At the first performance of the quartet, the slow movement was so well received that Arensky soon arranged it as a separate piece for string orchestra, Op. 35a, in which form it has remained among the most popular of all Arensky''s works.