Tchaikovsky Ørbeck

Pyotr Tchaikovsky wrote his Variations on a Rococo Theme for cello and orchestra in December 1876. He wrote the work for cellist and composer Wilhem Fitzenhagen, and the cellist was so involved in the process that it has been claimed he could be credited as a co-composer. He had great success as a performer with the work, where the cheerful, rococo-like theme is followed by eight variations.

Anne-Marie Ørbeck (1911−1996) was born in Kristiania, and as a 19-year-old she traveled to Berlin to study piano and composition. In 1933 she made her debut as a concert pianist with the Oslo Philharmonic in Haydn's Piano Concerto in D major with self-composed cadences (solo parts). A few years later she was the soloist in her own Concertino for piano and orchestra. Her Symphony in D major was premiered in Bergen in 1954, as the first symphony written by a Norwegian woman.