jan 1, 1893 - Symphony No. 6 in D Minor (Pathetique), Op. 74: Third movement, Allegro molto vivace (NAWM 160)

Description:

Composer: Piotr Il’yuich Tchaikovsky
Genre: Symphony

Wrote to his nephew Vladimir Davidov that he would call the piece A Program Symphony but would not announce the program leaving it “a riddle to everyone”. Many today suspect that the symphony perhaps describes his forbidden homosexual love of Davidov, who he dedicated the symphony to. However, it can also fit within many other archetypal tragedies.

Reception(s)
Audiences had trouble stomaching this symphony's unusual features (namely the slow finale) at its premiere, fostering mixed reviews. Tchaikovsky died nine days after the premiere, and the second performance was following his death. This time the symphony was unanimously proclaimed a masterpiece because they were able to contextualize the slow-movement ending within his death.

Second performance
Symphony was hailed as a masterpiece
The slow, lamenting finale, which has seemed so odd nine days earlier, was now seen as a valediction, a farewell to life. It's doubtful that Tchaikovsky himself had this in mind, though the narrative does fit.

Third movement:
This movement embodies a moment of victory before the tragic end, but is itself quirky in that it becomes a march, but the march-like elements only gradually emerge from a scherzo-like texture.

Form
It has some characteristics of a rondo, but that would also be a form expected of a finale, not a third movement. Its overall form resembles a sonata lacking a development, as the multiple modulations within the A section and the gradual emergence of the main theme depart from the sonata model.

Main Theme
Rather than being presented at the opening, the main theme does not appear until well into the movement. Further, when it does, it’s in the wrong key. It's motives were hinted at before, though, so when it does finally arrive it sounds familiar.

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