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TH 210

Symphony

Симфония

Sketches, B♭ major (1873).

  • Sketches for two themes made in June and July 1873 (unrealised).

  • The first theme was later reworked in the Capriccioso for piano (No. 5 from the Six Pieces, Op. 19).

History

In the summer of 1873 Tchaikovsky was preparing to write the fantasia The Tempest on a subject suggested by Vladimir Stasov. On the day that he purchased a new notebook, which was to be used as a diary, the composer made the note "1873, bought 11 July [O.S.] in Kiev. yesterday en route from Borzhom to Kiev after a long break from music, an tune suddenly came into my head out of nowhere. From this embryo in B♭ major the idea instantly came to me for a whole symphony. I decided at once to set Stasov's The Tempest aside, and to spend the summer on the whole symphony, which shall eclipse everything I have done before. This is the embryo: " [1].

From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского (1958), p. 256
English text copyright © 2006 Brett Langston

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On 1/13 July 1873 the composer made another note for the "theme of the 1st Allegro. The Introduction is similar, but in 4/4", this time in E major [2].

There are no other references to this projected symphony, but a few months later Tchaikovsky used a variant of the B♭ major theme in the Capriccioso for piano (No. 5 from the Six Pieces, Op. 19).

From: The Tchaikovsky Handbook, vol. 1 (2002), p. 399
Copyright © 2002 Alexander Poznansky and Brett Langston

References:
  1. Дневники П. И. Чайковского (Moscow, 1923), p. 3 [back]
  2. Дневники П. И. Чайковского (Moscow, 1923), p. 5 [back]