1. Andante – Allegro con anima
2. Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza – Moderato con anima – Andante mosso – Allegro non troppo – Tempo I
3. Valse. Allegro moderato
4. Finale. Andante maestoso – Allegro vivace – Molto vivace – Moderato assai e molto maestoso - Presto

Tchaikovsky was born in the provincial town of Votkinsk. He was introduced to music by his parents who would play Mozart and Rossini to him and taught the young Pyotr piano and music theory.

The family moved to St Petersburg in 1848 and it was here that Tchaikovsky trained in law and began work for the Ministry of Justice.  However, at the age of 22, and following the death of his mother (which psychologically damaged him for life), he entered the city music conservatory and began studying under the tutelage of Anton Rubinstein. It was Rubenstein’s brother Nikolai who was to appoint Tchaikovsky to be Professor of musical harmony at the Moscow Conservatory in 1866.

Much of Tchaikovsky’s early work was patriotic and drew on popular folk themes. However, it was not long before his cosmopolitan traits shone through. His Piano Concerto No. 1 was first performed in 1875 and is characteristic of Tchaikovsky’s style. It was accessible to all audiences and interestingly found greater acclaim abroad than at home.

By the 1880s Tchaikovsky’s music was being played as far afield as the United States and, in 1881, Tchaikovsky undertook his first foreign tour. He was invited to Europe on a composition and conducting tour. During this time he was enthusiastically received in all the major cities (including being met by a guard of honour in Prague). He also met many of his musical peers – Brahms, Dvořák, Grieg, a young Gustav Mahler and even Gounod. However, it was probably his meetings with Theodor Avé-Lallement and Désirée Artôt that were arguably the most influential in the fashioning of his fifth symphony.

Theodor Avé-Lallement was a well-known music teacher who formed a special bond with Tchaikovsky during his stay in Hamburg, making great efforts to attend all his rehearsals and concerts. He ‘told him rather frankly he disliked his noisy scoring and especially his excessive use of percussion, adding that [Tchaikovsky] could improve his music if he settled in Germany and followed their classical traditions.’  It is likely to have been this relationship which influenced the style of the fifth symphony which has a definite ‘European’ or conventional flavour. When compared to either the fourth or sixth symphonies, the fifth symphony most closely resembles the German-Austrian style of the period in both structural length and character development. In brief, it is more intellectual and less impulsive. However, within the slow movement there are unmistakable interruptions that can only be Tchaikovsky. His own sketches on the symphony include the comments:

‘Total submission before fate’
‘murmurs, doubts, laments. Reproaches against …xxx’
‘Shall I cast myself into the embrace of faith?’

Whether xxx is a reference to his homosexuality will never be known. It is, however, curious that sections of the second movement could be interpreted as a love song for Désirée Artôt a Parisian singer to whom Tchaikovsky was almost married in early 1870. They met again when he was in Paris on this early tour and their friendship was immediately rekindled. Unfortunately, they fell out over a manuscript. There was a brief correspondence during the final part of the tour but Tchaikovsky was never to hear from Désirée again.

The symphony opens with two clarinets playing a distinctive theme taken from Glinka’s opera A life for the Tsar which forms the basis of the character ‘hope’ within the symphony and features in all four movements. This is followed by a six-note descending theme that has been associated with ‘fate’ through its links with the opera Eugene Onegin. The movement develops in classical sonata form with an introduction, exposition, development, recapitulation and coda structure.

The second movement, in contrast to that of the fourth symphony, is a dramatic tour de force and one of Tchaikovsky’s most famous slow movements. It opens with a series of magnificent chords scored for lower strings and which give no hint of the famous horn solo which it precedes. This is followed in turn by a solo clarinet and solo oboe. The second subject of the movement (played by the oboe) scans with the words ‘O que t’aime! O mon amie!’ (O how I love you! O my friend) which would suggest that this movement is indeed a great personal statement from Tchaikovsky. The fact that amie ends with an ‘e’ would suggest that this love is directed towards a woman, not a man. The movement develops with melodies and counter melodies handed seamlessly through the string and woodwind sections. There are, however, sharp interventions from the brass featuring the Glinka derived hope theme and motifs previously seen in The Queen of Spades. These features have been compared to the brief but violent storms seen in high summer.

The third movement Valse provides a relaxing intermezzo for the symphony. It features the six note fate theme from the first movement but this time it returns in a major key and at once sounds cheerful and tranquil. The outcome of the piece is apparently set, in stark contrast to both the fourth and sixth symphonies. The movement draws to a close rather suspiciously with a return of the hope theme but this time the clarinets are joined by the bassoons.

The final movement begins Andante Maestoso – stately and majestic – with the hope theme. Full strings, full woodwind, mf compared to pp, major rather than minor key. It represents a confident (possibly triumphant?) Tchaikovsky. It is again set in classical sonata structure ending with an ostentatious and triumphalistic coda.

The fifth symphony has its critics but is widely accepted as one of Tchaikovsky’s most accessible symphonies. It is exciting to play and a joy to listen to. Is this the ultimate reply to Theodor Avé-Lallement’s comments? Tchaikovsky displays comfort in utilising the classical European structure without compromising his impulsive compositional nature.

Andrew Rochford, March 2007

You are welcome to use these notes - just drop us an email if you do (it is nice to know where we've been useful)

Use the BACK button to return to the page you were on