Your Concerto is Worthless and Unplayable Mr Tchaikovsky
Experts Can Easily Reject Creative New Ideas
'Not one word was said - absolute silence... I got up from the piano. 'Well?' I said. Then a torrent burst from Rubinstein, my concerto was worthless and unplayable. Bad, trivial, vulgar, only one or two pages had any value.'
Rubinstein hated the piece. He wanted Tchaikovsky to make significant changes, but was refused.
'I shan't alter a note. I shall publish it as it stands.'
Tchaikovsky crossed out the dedication to Rubinstein from the top of the page. He then rededicated it to Hans von Bülow who played it to great acclaim on his concert tour of the USA. Eventually, Rubinstein changed his mind about the piece and learned and performed it himself.
Hostile reactions to new creative ideas are not unusual - they are normal. Listening now to Tchaikovsky's masterpiece, we struggle to see how Rubinstein could have failed to be impressed by it. The lesson is that we all have a built-in resistance to unorthodox innovations that displace us from our comfort zones. The more expert we are the easier it is to find fault with other people's ideas. We can all be as deaf to brilliant new concepts as Rubinstein was.
Paul Sloane writes and speaks on creative thinking and innovation. He is the author of How to be a Brilliant Thinker.
Published by Paul Sloane
I am a Speaker & Author of books on lateral thinking puzzles, leadership & innovation. I help organisations to improve creativity and innovation. I give keynote talks and I facilitate brainstorms and worksh... View profile
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2 Comments
Post a CommentStravinsky received the same reaction to his ballet, "Rite of Spring." On the premier of the piece, the audience would boo, catcall the dancers, fistfights broke out and eventually it was a full fledged riot by intermission. Whether it was because of the music Stravinsky had written, or if it was the choreography of the dancers, accounts differ.
Hmmm.....maybe I'm just being cynical, but I wonder if Rubenstein's reaction (and motive!) isn't shared by many "wanna-be" sax players who try to learn Coltrane's 'Giant Steps'.
I wonder how many attitudes change after countless secret hours in the woodshed and the 'aha!' of some technical mastery. ;)
I enjoyed this piece. For reasons other than I think you may have intended. But, ironically, I AM more interested in the area to which to alluded. After reading a bit of your bio, I am intrigued to read some of your stuff on creativity/brilliance/et cetera. I have "fanned" you.