Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Editorial Conventions
- Bartók: Piano Concerto No.1
- Bartók: Violin Concerto No.2
- Bartók: Dance Suite
- Beethoven Symphonies: Some Supplementary Remarks
- Beethoven: Overture Leonore No.2
- Beethoven: Overture Leonore No.3
- Beethoven: Overture King Stephen
- Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique
- Berlioz: Harold in Italy
- Berlioz: Overtures
- Bloch Schelomo: Hebraic Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra
- Brahms: Four Symphonies
- Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 in D Minor, Op.15
- Brahms: Violin Concerto in D, Op.77
- Brahms: Hungarian Dances: A Brief Guide
- Bruch: Violin Concerto No.1 in G Minor, Op.26
- Busoni: Piano Concerto, Op.39
- Debussy: Prélude À L’Après-Midi D’un Faune
- Dvořák: Scherzo Capriccioso, Op.66
- Dvořák: Symphonic Variations, Op.78
- Dvořák: Romance for Violin and Orchestra, Op.11
- Dvořák: Serenade for Strings in E, Op.22
- Elgar: Variations on an Original Theme (‘Enigma’), Op.36
- Elgar: Concert-Overture Froissart
- Elgar: Concert-Overture Cockaigne
- Elgar: Concert-Overture in the South (Alassio)
- Elgar: Sea Pictures
- Elgar: Serenade for Strings in E Minor, Op.20
- Fauré: Fantaisie for Flute, Orch. Louis Aubert
- Franck: Symphony in D Minor
- Haydn: Symphonies with High Horns
- Haydn: Symphony No.100 in G (‘Military’)
- Haydn: Symphony No.104 in D (‘London’)
- Liszt: Piano Concerto No.1 in E Flat
- Liszt: Piano Concerto No.2 in A
- Mahler: Symphony No.2 in C Minor
- Martinù: Rhapsody-Concerto for Viola and Orchestra
- Mendelssohn: Symphony No.3 in a Minor, Op.56 (‘Scottish’)
- Mendelssohn: Symphony No.4 in a, Op.90 (‘Italian’)
- Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op.64
- Mendelssohn: Overture The Hebrides (‘Fingal’s Cave’), Op.26
- Mozart: Piano Concertos
- Mussorgsky, Orch. Ravel Pictures from an Exhibition
- Nielsen: Sinfonia Espansiva (Symphony No.3)
- Prokofiev: Classical Symphony (Symphony No.1, Op.25)
- Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf, Op.67
- Rachmaninov: Symphony No.2 in E Minor, Op.27
- Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C Minor, Op.18
- Ravel: Piano Concerto
- Ravel: La Valse
- Ravel: Le Tombeau De Couperin
- Ravel: Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte
- Respighi: Fontane Di Roma
- Rimsky-Korsakov: Symphonic Suite: Scheherazade, Op.35
- Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol, Op.34
- Rossini: Overture William Tell
- Saint-Saëns: Symphony No.3 in C Minor, Op.78
- Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No.1 in a Minor, Op.33
- Schubert: Overture Die Zauberharfe, D.644 (‘Rosamunde’)
- Schumann: Symphony No.4 in D Minor, Op.120
- Schumann Overture, Scherzo and Finale, Op.52
- Schumann: Cello Concerto in a Minor, Op.129
- Schumann: Overture Genoveva, Op.81
- Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No.1 in E Flat, Op.107
- Sibelius: Symphony No.2 in D, Op.43
- Sibelius: Symphony No.3 in C, Op.52
- Sibelius: Symphony No.4 in a Minor, Op.63
- Sibelius: Symphony No.5 in E Flat, Op.82
- Sibelius: Symphony No.6 in D Minor, Op.104
- Sibelius: Symphony No.7 in C, Op.105
- Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op.47
- Sibelius: Tapiola, Op.112
- Smetana: Má Vlast: 2. Vltava
- Smetana: Má Vlast: 3. Šárka
- Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, Op.40
- Strauss: Horn Concerto No.1 in E Flat, Op.11
- Strauss: Oboe Concerto
- Strauss: Metamorphosen: Study for 23 Solo Strings
- Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.2 in C Minor, Op.17
- Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.3 in D, Op.29
- Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.4 in F Minor, Op.36
- Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.5 in E Minor, Op.64
- Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.6 in B Minor, Op.74, ‘Pathétique’
- Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B Flat Minor, Op.23
- Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D, Op.35
- Tchaikovsky: Fantasy-Overture After Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
- Tippett: Symphony No.2 in C
- Vaughan Williams: A London Symphony (Symphony No.2)
- Vaughan Williams: Pastoral Symphony (Symphony No.3)
- Vaughan Williams: Tuba Concerto
- Wagner: Prelude Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg
- Walton: Cello Concerto
- Weber: Overture Der Beherrscher Der Geister
- Weber: Overture Der Freischütz
- Weber: Overture Oberon
- Bibliography
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.4 in F Minor, Op.36
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 June 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Editorial Conventions
- Bartók: Piano Concerto No.1
- Bartók: Violin Concerto No.2
- Bartók: Dance Suite
- Beethoven Symphonies: Some Supplementary Remarks
- Beethoven: Overture Leonore No.2
- Beethoven: Overture Leonore No.3
- Beethoven: Overture King Stephen
- Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique
- Berlioz: Harold in Italy
- Berlioz: Overtures
- Bloch Schelomo: Hebraic Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra
- Brahms: Four Symphonies
- Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 in D Minor, Op.15
- Brahms: Violin Concerto in D, Op.77
- Brahms: Hungarian Dances: A Brief Guide
- Bruch: Violin Concerto No.1 in G Minor, Op.26
- Busoni: Piano Concerto, Op.39
- Debussy: Prélude À L’Après-Midi D’un Faune
- Dvořák: Scherzo Capriccioso, Op.66
- Dvořák: Symphonic Variations, Op.78
- Dvořák: Romance for Violin and Orchestra, Op.11
- Dvořák: Serenade for Strings in E, Op.22
- Elgar: Variations on an Original Theme (‘Enigma’), Op.36
- Elgar: Concert-Overture Froissart
- Elgar: Concert-Overture Cockaigne
- Elgar: Concert-Overture in the South (Alassio)
- Elgar: Sea Pictures
- Elgar: Serenade for Strings in E Minor, Op.20
- Fauré: Fantaisie for Flute, Orch. Louis Aubert
- Franck: Symphony in D Minor
- Haydn: Symphonies with High Horns
- Haydn: Symphony No.100 in G (‘Military’)
- Haydn: Symphony No.104 in D (‘London’)
- Liszt: Piano Concerto No.1 in E Flat
- Liszt: Piano Concerto No.2 in A
- Mahler: Symphony No.2 in C Minor
- Martinù: Rhapsody-Concerto for Viola and Orchestra
- Mendelssohn: Symphony No.3 in a Minor, Op.56 (‘Scottish’)
- Mendelssohn: Symphony No.4 in a, Op.90 (‘Italian’)
- Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op.64
- Mendelssohn: Overture The Hebrides (‘Fingal’s Cave’), Op.26
- Mozart: Piano Concertos
- Mussorgsky, Orch. Ravel Pictures from an Exhibition
- Nielsen: Sinfonia Espansiva (Symphony No.3)
- Prokofiev: Classical Symphony (Symphony No.1, Op.25)
- Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf, Op.67
- Rachmaninov: Symphony No.2 in E Minor, Op.27
- Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C Minor, Op.18
- Ravel: Piano Concerto
- Ravel: La Valse
- Ravel: Le Tombeau De Couperin
- Ravel: Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte
- Respighi: Fontane Di Roma
- Rimsky-Korsakov: Symphonic Suite: Scheherazade, Op.35
- Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol, Op.34
- Rossini: Overture William Tell
- Saint-Saëns: Symphony No.3 in C Minor, Op.78
- Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No.1 in a Minor, Op.33
- Schubert: Overture Die Zauberharfe, D.644 (‘Rosamunde’)
- Schumann: Symphony No.4 in D Minor, Op.120
- Schumann Overture, Scherzo and Finale, Op.52
- Schumann: Cello Concerto in a Minor, Op.129
- Schumann: Overture Genoveva, Op.81
- Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No.1 in E Flat, Op.107
- Sibelius: Symphony No.2 in D, Op.43
- Sibelius: Symphony No.3 in C, Op.52
- Sibelius: Symphony No.4 in a Minor, Op.63
- Sibelius: Symphony No.5 in E Flat, Op.82
- Sibelius: Symphony No.6 in D Minor, Op.104
- Sibelius: Symphony No.7 in C, Op.105
- Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op.47
- Sibelius: Tapiola, Op.112
- Smetana: Má Vlast: 2. Vltava
- Smetana: Má Vlast: 3. Šárka
- Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, Op.40
- Strauss: Horn Concerto No.1 in E Flat, Op.11
- Strauss: Oboe Concerto
- Strauss: Metamorphosen: Study for 23 Solo Strings
- Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.2 in C Minor, Op.17
- Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.3 in D, Op.29
- Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.4 in F Minor, Op.36
- Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.5 in E Minor, Op.64
- Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.6 in B Minor, Op.74, ‘Pathétique’
- Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 in B Flat Minor, Op.23
- Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D, Op.35
- Tchaikovsky: Fantasy-Overture After Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
- Tippett: Symphony No.2 in C
- Vaughan Williams: A London Symphony (Symphony No.2)
- Vaughan Williams: Pastoral Symphony (Symphony No.3)
- Vaughan Williams: Tuba Concerto
- Wagner: Prelude Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg
- Walton: Cello Concerto
- Weber: Overture Der Beherrscher Der Geister
- Weber: Overture Der Freischütz
- Weber: Overture Oberon
- Bibliography
Summary
After the first performance of Symphony No.3 one critic wrote: “…though from Mr Tchaikovsky we have a right to expect something more”. Barely two years later, he delivered; this Fourth is no less than a cracking masterpiece, one of the stable and most popular warhorses in the entire orchestral repertoire. A lot had happened to Tchaikovsky in those two years: he had been befriended by the extraordinary, kind and sympathetic rich widow Mme. Nadezhda von Meck, who granted him a substantial annuity enabling him to devote himself entirely to composition and to whom this first new symphony is dedicated. But the turbulence of the symphony, with its insistent ‘Fate’ motif, reflects the events of that crisis year 1877: the desperate, insoluble conflict of his life was that the comforts of steady normality for which he longed were absolutely incompatible with his homosexuality, and as the sketches for the symphony were approaching completion he was – crazily – persuading himself to go ahead and get married to a poor young student who had written to him with a passionate declaration of love. The outcome was of course disastrous, but by that time the music of the symphony was essentially finished. Tchaikovsky entrusted its first performance, in Moscow in February 1878, to Nikolai Rubinstein, “the only conductor in the world I can rely on”, but in the end the symphony was inadequately rehearsed and indifferently performed, and had to await its St Petersburg premiere in November, under Nápravník, for the triumphant success it deserved.
sources
A Autograph manuscript (1877), in the Russian National Museum of Music, Moscow, viewable online at IMSLP
E First edition score, published by P. Jurgenson, Moscow in 1880
Br Full score and parts, published by Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig c.1946, reprinted by Dover; score has bar numbers, parts originally not, but in the Wiesbaden reprint they are added
Um Urtext score, published in 1949 by State Music Publishers, Moscow as part of the Soviet Tchaikovsky Complete Edition
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- Orchestral Masterpieces under the Microscope , pp. 610 - 614Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2023