Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence & Symphony No. 6 ‘Pathetique’
4/25/2025, 8 Tracks, 1:21:53
Featuring
Domingo Hindoyan
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Did you know?
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Composer Biography
Tchaikovsky found Florence unappealing despite traveling there for a recuperative trip, stating he could not live outside Russia.
Composer Biography
Tchaikovsky died nine days after conducting the first performance of his Sixth Symphony, 'Pathétique', likely from cholera.
Composition History
Tchaikovsky began writing his tenth opera, The Queen of Spades, the day after arriving in Florence.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Tchaikovsky intended his Sixth Symphony, 'Pathétique', to have a deeply personal program that would remain an enigma to everyone.
Compositional Technique
Tchaikovsky described composing the string sextet Souvenir de Florence as "unimaginably difficult" due to the novelty of the form requiring six independent yet homogeneous parts.
Notable Performances
The original sextet version of Souvenir de Florence premiered in St Petersburg in December 1890, while Anton Seidl's orchestral transcription was first heard in New York's Carnegie Hall in 1893.
