1893

Rimsky-Kovsakov writes the following about his trombone concerto (in a chapter later posthumously published as part of his autobiography): “During 1876-77 I composed, so to speak ‘by the way’ variations for oboe…and a concerto for trombone; both of these with the accompaniment of a military (wind) band. These pieces were performed by the oboist Ranishevski and the trombonist Lyeonoff at the Cronstadt concerts of the United Bands of the Naval Department, under my direction. The soloists gained applause, but the pieces themselves went unnoticed, like everything performed at Cronstadt….These compositions of mine were written primarily to provide the concerts with solo pieces of less hackneyed nature than the usual; secondly, that I myself might master the virtuoso style, so unfamiliar to me, with its solo and tutti, its cadences, etc. The finale of the trombone concerto was not bad, taken all in all, and was effectively orchestrated” (Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life 181).