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Tchaikovsky was spending the summer of 1888 in a rented country home in Frolovskoe (on the road from Moscow to Klin) more interested in flower gardening and peaceful walks in the beautiful countryside than in composition when the idea of a fifth symphony first occurred to him. On June 22, full of self-doubt as always, he was able to write to his "beloved friend" Nadeja von Meck, as follows:"I am dreadfully anxious to prove not only to others but also to myself that I am not yet played out as a composer. Have I already told you that I intend to write a symphony? The beginning was difficult; now, however, inspiration seems to have come. We shall see!" He made progress and on August 6 wrote Mme. von Meck:"The real summer weather has not lasted long, but how I enjoyed it! My flowers, which I feared would die, have nearly all recovered and some have blossomed luxuriously. I have been working with good result, and half the symphony is orchestrated." He worked rapidly and on August 26 was able to announce its completion. Tchaikovsky's friends in Moscow received the work enthusiastically but both then and later the composer had doubts as to its value. (were the performances of Tchaikovsky's music left up to his own opinions of it we should hear very little of any of it for he was hyper-critical as far as most of his works are concerned). The first performance of the Fifth took place on November 17, 1888 at St. Petersburg with the composer conducting, where the audience, but not the critics, received it warmly. It has, since then, established itself as one of the most popular symphonies in the repertoire and there is hardly a concert season that does not include a performance of it.

In general, Tchaikovsky was wont to base his symphonies on some poetic idea, however, for some fifty years nothing suggesting a poetic basis for the Fifth symphony has been found. Recently the following reference has been discovered in one of the composer's notebooks: "Program for the symphony's first movement:Introduction. Complete resignation to fate or, what amounts to the same thing, the inscrutable decision of Providence.--Allegro I) Grumblings, doubts, complaints, reproaches against †††(three crosses in the original).---II) Should I throw myself into the arms of faith???"--In a corner of the page the following in written:"A wonderful program, if I can only execute it."

tchaikovsky biography

symphony no. 6

violin concerto

piano concerto

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