Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Symphony No. 6 (1893) (46’)

At the age of 53, Tchaikovsky described his sixth symphony as “the best thing I ever
composed or shall compose”. Dedicated to his nephew Vladimir Davydov, this
masterpiece embraces many debates since the day of the premier on 1893. The composer
died nine days after the first performance and the cause of his death is one of the debates
associated with this symphony. An article published in 1979 by Alexandra Orlova
describes the symphony as a musical suicide note. Tchaikovsky felt forced to take his own
life because of a homosexual liaison with the son of a noble family. This theory has been
widely refuted by different scholars, and many of them accept that he was victim of
cholera.
Regarding the title, it was suggested by Tchaikovsky’s brother after the original name:
“Program Symphony”. Originally the composer had a program, but he wished not to
announce it. The word “Pathetique” as we know this symphony comes from
“Pateticheskaia” but it has a closer translation in English to “passionate” or “emotional”
rather than the modern sense of “sadly inept”. The lack of program does not stop us from
noticing how this symphony reflects impulsive passion, love, and disappointments,
developing an idea of struggle of life ending in collapse.
The first movement opens by emerging from nothingness with the bassoon leading us to
the tender Allegro non troppo, main section of the movement. Called by Tchaikovsky as
Scherzo, the second movement is in the meter of 5/4 which gives the feeling of a waltz,
with a limp. The third movement is a brilliant march, but to some, it may seem to be
musically empty. The end of the movement is a thrilling moment, but it still feels like a false
victory. The finale is unorthodox in that instead of a great and joyous finale, there is an
Adagio lamentoso, beginning with an anguished cry in the strings. The symphony closes
by returning to nothingness, just as it started, but now with private, intimate and personal
pain, as a view of death and the beyond.
Philip Halle wrote “the somber eloquence of the ‘Pathetique’, its pages of recollected joy
fled forever, its wild gaiety quenched by thought of the inevitable end, its mighty
lamentations-these are overwhelming and shake the soul.”

By Jean Gomez