Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) composed his Sérénade mélancolique for violin and orchestra (or piano) in 1875, shortly after completing his First Piano Concerto. It was first heard a year later, performed by Adolph Brodsky, who stepped in to replace the work’s dedicatee, Leopold Auer, when he backed out of the first performance. Several years later the same thing occurred, when Auer, as dedicatee of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, again declined to give the première, ostensibly because the work was “unplayable.” Once again, it was Brodsky who rose to the challenge. The Sérénade was published three years after its first performance.

—Piet Koornhof