The Biography

of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The history of the music
of the Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pathetique

The Listening guide

of Pathetique

 Tchaikovsky background
He was born on May 7, 1840, in
Votkinsk in the Vyatka district of
Russia

Early years
When he was just 5 years old, Tchaikovsky
began taking piano lessons.
His parents sometimes took him to
concerts.
He had a lot of passions in the music.
When he was 14 years old, his mother,
Alexandra, died of cholera in 1854.

Education
When he was 21, Tchaikovsky decided to take music
lessons at the Russian Musical Society. he enrolled at
the newly founded St. Petersburg Conservatory,
becoming one of the school's first composition
students. He graduated from the St. Petersburg
School of Law in 1859, then worked for 3 years at the
Justice Department of Russian Empire. In 1862-1865
he studied music under Anton Rubinstein who was
demanding and critical at the St. Petersburg
Conservatory. In 1866-1878, he was a professor of
theory and harmony at the Moscow Conservatory.

Early works
He met Franz Liszt and Hector Berlioz, who
visited Russia with concert tours. During that
period, Tchaikovsky wrote his first ballet 'The
Swan Lake', opera 'Eugene Onegin', four
Symphonies, and the brilliant Piano Concerto
No1. The musical poems Fatum and
Romeo and Juliet that he wrote in 1869
were the first works to show the style he
became famous for.

A disastrous marriage
He had short time to marriage for only a few weeks
with Antonina Ivanovna Milyukova who is a Moscow
Conservatory student .
Because Tchaikovsky found that he and Antonina were
incompatible psychologically and sexually after
marriage.

The marriage caused him a nervous breakdown. He

even made a suicide attempt by throwing himself into
a river.
his unfortunate wife, she eventually ended up in an
insane asylum, where she spent over 20 years and
died in 1917.

Later Years
In 1883-1893, Tchaikovsky wrote his best Symphonies
No.5 and No.6, ballets 'The Sleeping Beauty' and 'The
Nutcracker', operas 'The Queen of Spades' and
lolanta'.
In 1888-1889, he made a successful conducting tour
of Europe, appearing in Prague, Leipzig, Hamburg,
Paris, and London.
Tchaikovsky himself conducted the premiere of his
Symphony No.6 in St. Petersburg, Russia, on the 16th of
October, 1893

Death
He died of cholera after having a glass of tap water.
He was laid to rest in the Necropolis of Artists at St.
Aleksandr Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersburg, Russia.
This is what most people know officially. But, his death
is still laid in the mystery. Some of his biographers
believe that he committed suicide after the humiliation
of a sex scandal trial.

 The history of
Pathetique
The Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74,
Pathetique, which is named by his brother
Modest, properly shows the emotion of his music.
The meaning of Pathetique suggests impassioned
suffering in its Russian context.
This music is Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's final
completed symphony. It was premiered only ten
days before he died.

The composition of Pathetique

This symphony begins with an extraordinary sound, which of a very
low bassoon solo.
It is the murk of double basses divided into two sections, with violas
in their most sepulchral register adding their voices to the
cadences.
This and the beginning of the finale, which is at precisely the same
tempo, are the symphonys slowest passages. When this
Adagio(very slow) emerges into quicker motion, it does so.
Tchaikovsky stirs this nervous theme to a climax and then lovingly
prepares the entrance of one his most famous and beautiful
melodies.
The melody is expansively presented; then it disappears, dwindling
by degrees all the way down to pppppp.

 Listening Guide
<Symphony No. 6
Pathetique>
DATE: February and March 1893
GENRE: Symphony

<Symphony No. 6 Pathetique>

What to listen for
Melody: shattered among the whole string section and, which
ends with low, tolling heartbeats in the double-basses that at last
expire into silence.
Rhythm/Meter: Slow
Harmony: the Symphony in E-flat
Instrumentation: The Symphony is scored for an orchestra
comprising piccolo, piccolo, 3 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in A), 2
bassoons + 4 horns (in F), 2 trumpets (in A, B-flat), 3 trombones,
tuba + 3 timpani, cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam (ad lib.) + violins I,
violins II, violas, cellos, and double basses.

<Symphony No. 6 Pathetique>

Tchaikovsky's "Cross"-motive, associated with the

crucifixion, a variation of which first appears in
mm.1-2 of his Pathtique Symphony

Thank you

References
Symphony No. 6 (Tchaikovsky) (Wikipedia)
Symphony No. 6, "Pathtique" (LA Phil)
TCHAIKOVSKY: SYMPHONY NO. 6 IN B MINOR, OPUS 74, PATHTIQUE
(San Francisco Symphony)
"Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web.
20 Oct. 2014.
World Biography (Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Biography)
2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R Limited (The New York Times) By: Driven,
Tom.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (PowerShow)
Biography (IMDb)
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Biography - The Russian Master (Peter Ilyich
Tchaikovsky Biography - The Russian Master)
Symphony No. 6 (- Tchaikovsky Research)
Symphony No. 6 (Tchaikovsky) (Wikipedia)