Type a new keyword(s) and press Enter to search

The Symphony of Death

 

             Tchaikovsky was a composer who worked extremely hard and didn't live a glamorous life until he met the likes of Madame von Meck. Madame von Meck was a woman who liked Tchaikovsky's music and wanted to hire him to write music for her, but the only stipulation was that they could never meet face to face. Her generosity toward him was real and it was admirable. Through their time corresponding she "gave all and asked for nothing- in return. Madame von Meck was a part of Tchaikovsky's life up until around the late 1880s to the early 1890s. they had no correspondence while he was writing his Sixth Symphony which was started in 1893. Through the time he was composing he was writing letters to his nephew about his experiences with the new shmphony. Now that Madame von Meck was gone Tchaikovsky pushed on and contuned to write music if not for any reason than for her. He wrote one day, "I know well that I shall never lose your support in what I do. I do not believe I could write another line of music if I did not know that no matter what the world thinks, my friend will hear my music and will understand what I have tried to say."" The Sixth Symphony in B minor known as the Pathetique Symphony is a symphony that tests the truthfulness of compositional technique. Classical ideals are still enforced in the form of the piece, the alteration of the customary sequence of movements is the only true essential change from classical plan. Instead of ending with a fast movement, it ends with a slow movement with a mournful closing dirge that could be interpreted as a foreshadowing of the composer's death. Inside the symphony there is hidden meaning and a very well hidden program that was intentionally hidden so the audience would look at the symphony a little differently that other symphonies. Tchaikovsky used to travel a lot to do concerts in different cities and being on high demand as a conductor, he would often conduct in Warsaw.


Essays Related to The Symphony of Death