By 1892, when he was working on early sections of his sixth symphony, Tchaikovsky was one of the most famous composers in the world — a man whose fame redounded to the glory of his homeland, as he had hoped it would.
However, Tchaikovsky halted work on the draft in December 1892. It was a decision that felt not like surrender, but liberation. He intended to avoid writing what he called “pure music” — that is, symphonic or chamber music — but this determination was quite brief.
Within two months he began an entirely new approach to his sixth symphony, and the ideas came pouring forth. He drafted its first section in only four days and could clearly imagine the rest. Six months later, his work on the symphony was complete.
Not only is his Symphony No. 6 a programmatic work, but the details are unknown. He wrote his nephew that its subtext would “remain a mystery—let them guess.”
If the symphony offers an escape, it is in its interior movements: the lovely second movement, labeled a waltz, but actually rendered in a tricky 5/4 rhythm; and the third movement, which includes a blaring march that features the brass. This movement has all the ingredients for a sense of triumph.
Tchaikovsky said that he had put his “whole soul” into the “Pathétique.” We may never know the demons that inhabited that soul, but we can hear the tortured sincerity of his feelings. Those feelings ended with his death soon after th premiere performance.
Here is Valery Gergiev to conduct this music:
