"I have decided that each morning I shall write something new. Yesterday I wrote a romance, and today a piano piece", Tchaikovsky wrote to Nadezhda von Meck from Florence on 12/24 February 1878 . The result of this decision was the composition of twelve piano pieces of moderate difficulty.
Tchaikovsky's Twelve Pieces for solo piano, Op. 40, were written between February and April 1878. While travelling from Florence to Clarens (Switzerland), the composer continued work on the piano pieces. The next reference to the piano pieces was on 28 February/12 March 1878 in a letter to Anatoly Tchaikovsky . By mid/late March he had already completed seven pieces. At the same time Tchaikovsky was working on the Violin Concerto and the Grand Sonata in G major. The sketches for the pieces were completed at Kamenka in April. "The 12 pieces of moderate difficulty for solo piano are ready—but of course, only in draft".
