Classical Music Discussions: Symphony #6

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Previous threads:

Symphony #1
Symphony #2
Symphony #3
Symphony #4
Symphony #5

Back after a long hiatus, and I’m sure everyone was on the edge of their seats with anticipation! :stuck_out_tongue:
We return this week with Tchaikovsky and his final and most emotional symphony, subtitled, “Pathétique.” Tchaikovsky seemed to recognize how much the piece epitomized its creator upon its completion in August 1893: “I definitely think it is by far the most sincere of all my pieces. I love it as I have never loved any other of my musical children.” The subtitle, suggested by Tchaikovsky’s brother Modest, can be misleading to English speakers, suggesting “pathetic” or “feeble,” which the work certainly is not. The corresponding Russian and French words correlate more closely to the Greek “pathos,” or suffering.

The symphony opens with a slow E minor introduction, first with bassoons, then violas introducing the primary theme. Far more memorable is the second theme, which is introduced by muted cellos and violins. It is full of Romantic yearning and one of Tchaikovsky’s most famous. The theme dies out but is violently replaced by the development section, subsiding only briefly for the brass choir playing the Russian Orthodox funeral chant, “With the Saints.” Ultimately, the roller-coaster ride of a movement concludes with a simple coda of brass over descending plucked strings.

The intermezzo is a waltz, though in an awkward 5/4 time instead of the usual 3/4. It is intended to represent an oasis of peace and beauty amidst the suffering. The trio section features a tortured violin theme over a driving pedal beat, reminding us things are still not all right with the world. In the third movement, as if making another attempt to fight back Death, Tchaikovsky next tries a march. However, the flickering string passages in 12/8 nearly prevent the theme from fully developing, continuing to undercut it throughout the movement. Eventually the march wins out, carrying the movement to an ending so exuberant that it can be misconstrued as the end of the symphony.

But Tchaikovsky has not said all he has to say. The final movement provides one of the sharpest contrasts in symphonic literature, exposing the hollowness of the march. Marked Adagio lamentoso, the strings cry out a despairing theme, joined by the bassoons. Occasionally the theme is replaced by ones of hope, but they are each swept away in turn. The last moments of the symphony are an embodiment of death itself, as the heartbeat pedal on B weakens then fades to silence.

This unprecedented finale mystified audiences at its premiere in St. Petersburg, as symphonies were expected to end in noisy triumph. Eight days later, Tchaikovsky suddenly died of cholera (possibly by his own hand), and the coincidence with a work that seems to foreshadow his own death helped launch the fame of his sixth symphony.

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GorillaMan? Tusculan? Jpeg?

::crickets::

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Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. Not only is it a damn fine composition, but responsible for making the final cross from the Classical Age into the Romantic Age. All of a sudden, instrumental music had a storyline, and was much more than just something pretty to listen to!

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Mahler’s sixth is nick-named ‘Tragic’. It is dark and brooding while being taut and tense at the same time. I love it. Unfortunately I seem to be a minority; mostly everyone else prefer other works of Mahler.

The first movement is marked ‘Heftig, aber markig’: vehement, but powerful. Exactly.

The lower strings start a hurried march which is the beginning of the first theme, and sets the tone for the entire piece. It is not so much a clear melody as rather a string of disjunct melodic fragments that evoke a haunted, desparate atmosphere. The second theme is an odd series of long, stretched notes that move up and down by mere seconds.

The movement has a coherency that is rare with Mahler, who normally indulges in overly long expositions. About halfway through the movement the music slows down in a temporary idyllic passage, during which some rather odd sounds can be heard. These are cowbells, with which Mahler enriched the orchestral instrumentarium.

The following scherzo keeps up the tension. The theme is intermittently accompanied by the march-like bass notes as not to make you forget what came before. The howling sound of the horns as well as the steady beat of the drums spurs the orchestra onwards, with a recurrent rhythm reminiscent of Beethoven’s fifth (. . . -), except this is a 3/4 measure.

The andante begins with a blissful melody for the full strings. Then an oboe (I think, could be a French horn) takes over the melody as if telling a story. This passes on to a clarinet, a horn, and an interplay between strings and brass. Here, too, Mahler uses the echoing of melodic fragments to great effect. The nostalgic atmosphere is sustained in a solid development of the possiblities of the theme. The music reaches a high point near the end, where the violins play canonically interweaving melodies.

The finale starts off with a strange sound, the so-called ‘Hammer’: a sound effect that Mahler described in words without definitely specifying the instrument. Every director tries his own combination of instruments in a bid to achieve Mahler’s intentions.

For a while the orchestra plays fragments of melodies, partly quotations of the earlier movements. Finally the celli start a dark, pessimistic melody which is pursued ruthlessly to its finish in a fortissimo sound, and gives way to the theme, which is rhythmically related to the first movement. The tempo picks up and becomes a frantic march. The orchestration here is quite colorful, the harp and bells are prominent.

At several points in the movement the ‘hammer’ sounds, the brass shouts out as if getting to the climax of the piece. Then the sounds die down without the promise being fulfilled. For that we have to wait until the very end. The orchestra reaches a few frantic high points, with loud drum beats and rushing harp arpeggio’s. A short silence, soon filled with notes from the brass that tell a tale beyond all hope. Then , suddenly, the full orchestra sounds out the last few fortissimo notes, in the repeated rhythm of the theme. And that is it.

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After seeing the movie Soylent Green, I knew I’d never heard the opening movement the same again… :eek: