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Program Notes

Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique” Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
(1840 – 1893)

Tchaikovsky’s final symphony, premiered in the last weeks of his life, permits
us deep insight into his brooding personality and his peripatetic family history.
Interpreted by many as a kind of confessional diary, its four famous movements
submerge us in imaginary ballrooms, vast travelscapes, and overpowering
emotional depths.

Tchaikovky’s family name came from the Ukrainian word “Chaika” (Чайка),
meaning both “Seagull,” like Chekhov’s play, and a 50-man military sailboat used
by the Zaporozhian (Ukrainian) Cossacks. The composer’s great-grandfather
Fedor was a Cossack born in Kremenchuk (180 miles SE of Kyiv) who served in
the Zaporozhian army under Peter the Great. Tchaikovsky’s grandfather served
as the mayor of Glazov, a future whistle-stop on the Trans-Siberian railroad (750
miles east of Moscow), and his engineer father manage a nearby ironworks. But
as a result of his precocious abilities (sight-reading at three, fluent in French and
German by six), Tchaikovsky’s mother relocated the family to St. Petersburg to
enroll him as one of the first students of the new Conservatory. Beginning with
a trip to London’s Crystal Palace and several European capitals (Berlin, Paris,
Brussels at the age of 21), he became one of the best-traveled composers of the
century, making dozens of extended trips throughout Europe with his brothers
(five times to London and almost annual visits to Ukraine, Germany, and Italy) and
taught himself English so he could read David Copperfield. In 1866, he was invited
to become one of the first faculty members at the new Moscow Conservatory.
For the next ten years, he taught composition and produced a series of incredible
masterworks (including more than a dozen concertos, concertante pieces, and
symphonies) while struggling against financial difficulties, self-doubt, and
depression (“Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy.”).

In 1876, some stability finally arrived in the form of a generous annual stipend,
more freedom to travel, and an intimate correspondence with the widow of a
railway tycoon. Upon her husband’s death, Baroness Madame [Nadezhda] von
Meck had become an important supporter of the early Moscow Conservatory.
She served as Tchaikovsky’s confidant (through hundreds of letters), patron,
and host, allowing Tchaikovsky to compose at her summer estate while she
toured Europe. During this highly emotional period, Tchaikovsky dedicated his
Symphony No. 4 to her, describing it as “ours,” and confessing in writing “how
much I thought of you with every bar.” Incredibly, even though Mme. Von Meck’s
PAGE 14 Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra
PAGE 14 Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra