Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 "Pathétique" (with Score)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky:

Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, TH 30, ČW 27 "Pathétique" (with Score)

Composed: August 1893

Conductor: Evgeny Mravinsky

Orchestra: Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra

Recording: 1961

00:00 1. Adagio—Allegro non troppo (B minor)

17:45 2. Allegro con grazia (D major)

25:54 3. Allegro molto vivace (G major)

34:15 4. Adagio lamentoso (B minor)

The Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, also known as the Pathétique Symphony, is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's final completed symphony, written between February and the end of August 1893. The composer entitled the work "The Passionate Symphony", employing a Russian word, Патетическая (Pateticheskaya), meaning "passionate" or "emotional", which was then (mis-)translated into French as pathétique, meaning "solemn" or "emotive".

The composer led the first performance in Saint Petersburg on 28 October of that year, nine days before his death. The second performance, conducted by Eduard Nápravník, took place 21 days later, at a memorial concert on 18 November. It included some minor corrections that Tchaikovsky had made after the premiere, and was thus the first performance of the work in the exact form in which it is known today. The first performance in Moscow was on 16 December , conducted by Vasily Safonov. It was the last of Tchaikovsky's compositions premiered in his lifetime; his last composition of all, the single-movement 3rd Piano Concerto, Op. 75, which was completed in October 1893, a short time before his death, received a posthumous premiere.