Symphony No.5

The Symphony No. 5 in E minor (Op. 64) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was composed between May and August 1888. It was first performed, under Tchaikovsky's own baton, in St Petersburg on November 6, 1888. It is in four movements: A typical performance lasts about 46 minutes.

1. Andante — Allegro con anima (E minor)
2. Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza (D major)
3. Valse: Allegro moderato (A major)
4. Andante maestoso— Allegro vivace (E major → E minor → E major)

Like Symphony No. 4, the Fifth is a cyclical symphony due to the recurrence of the "motto" theme in more than one movement. Unlike the Fourth, however, the theme is heard in all four movements, a feature Tchaikovsky had first used in the Manfred Symphony, which was completed less than two years before the Fifth. The "motto" theme itself is derived from a passage in Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar—significantly, a passage using the words "turn not into sorrow". The motto theme has a funereal character in the first movement, but gradually transforms into a triumphant march, which dominates the final movement. Tchaikovsky was attracted to this particular theme because the topic of the Fifth Symphony is Providence, which is closely related to Fate, the theme of the Fourth symphony. The changing character of the motto over the course of the symphony seems to imply that Tchaikovsky is expressing optimism with regard to fate, an outlook that would not return in his Sixth Symphony.

Some critics, including Tchaikovsky himself, have considered it to be an insincere and even crude ending, but the symphony has gone on to become one of the composer's most popular works. The second movement, in particular, is considered to be classic Tchaikovsky: well crafted, colorfully orchestrated, and with a memorable melody for solo horn. For some reason, possibly the very clear musical exposition of the idea of "ultimate victory through strife", the Fifth was very popular during World War II, with many new recordings of the work, and many symphonic performances during those years. One of the most notable performances was by the Leningrad Radio Symphony Orchestra during the Siege of Leningrad. City leaders had ordered the orchestra to continue its performances to keep the spirits high in the city. On the night of October 20, 1941 they played Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 at the city's Philharmonic Hall and it was broadcast live to London. As the second movement began bombs started to fall nearby. The orchestra continued to play till the final note. Since the war it remains very popular, but has been somewhat eclipsed in popularity by the Fourth and Sixth Symphonies.

Critical reaction to the work was mixed, with some enthusiasm in Russia. Berezovsky wrote, "The Fifth Symphony is the weakest of Tchaikovsky's symphonies, but nevertheless it is a striking work, taking a prominent place not only among the composer's output but among Russian works in general. ... the entire symphony seems to spring from some dark spiritual experience."

On the symphony's first performance in the United States, critical reaction, especially in Boston, was almost unanimously hostile. A reviewer for the Boston Evening Transcript, October 24, 1892, wrote:

"Of the Fifth Tchaikovsky Symphony one hardly knows what to say ... In the Finale we have all the untamed fury of the Cossack, whetting itself for deeds of atrocity, against all the sterility of the Russian steppes. The furious peroration sounds like nothing so much as a horde of demons struggling in a torrent of brandy, the music growing drunker and drunker. Pandemonium, delirium tremens, raving, and above all, noise worse confounded!"

The reception in New York was little better. A reviewer for the Musical Courier, March 13, 1889, wrote:

"In the Tchaikovsky Fifth Symphony ... one vainly sought for coherency and homogeneousness ... in the last movement, the composer's Calmuck blood got the better of him, and slaughter, dire and bloody, swept across the storm-driven score."

The 5th symphony was used in 1933 by the Russian-born choreographer Léonide Massine for his - and the world's - first symphonic ballet, Les Présages. This caused a furore amongst musical purists, who objected to a serious symphonic work being used as the basis of a ballet.

Various passages from this symphony were used in the 1937 motion picture Maytime, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. The music appears not only in some of the background score, but also in the form of a sung pastiche as a fictitious French opera entitled Czaritsa, "composed" by the character Trentini for the lead soprano (MacDonald).

The second movement was featured prominently in the 1986 film "Lucas".

Analysis

Andante-Allegro con anima

The dark motto theme is heard on clarinets with string accompaniment, although in the absence of the first violins. After this introduction, the Allegro con anima introduces the principal theme of the movement in 6/8 time on clarinet and bassoon, the strings providing a steady marching accompaniment. In its second phrase, the bassoon is replaced by the flute an octave higher than the clarinet. The melody is repeated in the strings with the winds accompanying. A series of antiphonal exchanges between the strings and winds follows, adding the rest of the orchestra to reach the first climax with a forceful restatement of the melody, now marked fff. This is cut short as the strings begin the transition into the second subject with a rising figure in the key of F# major. Tchaikovsky dwells for a considerable number of bars in this rather remote key, until he reaches the second subject in D major through the use of the circle of fifths. A bagpipe-like passage is heard in the winds before the second subject proper begins. As it reaches its climax, fragments of the first subject are heard in the brass over a dominant pedal, and the first sustained major-key passage of the piece is heard as the rhythm is repeated in an assured D major. This does not last, however, for we soon enter the development section in the minor, and proceed with the first phrase of the opening melody moving through a great number of keys. The material from the transition is heard again, this time in a terse B flat major. The music reaches a tense climax in E flat before finally reaching the opening material in the more familiar key of E minor. The recapitulation is a truncated version of the exposition, with the second subject repeated in the tonic key, as is the convention. After an E major climax, the coda appears to be dying away before the music surges back to the minor and the marching rhythm from the opening returns. Instruments drop away as the rhythm of the first subject is passed around, eventually leaving only the lower strings, bassoons and timpani on the hushed final chords.

Instrumentation

The work is scored for 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons, 4 horns in F, 2 trumpets in A, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings.

Sources

• Review by Bogdanov-Berezovsky, paraphrased from The Symphonies of Brahms and Tschaikowsky in Score, Bonanza Books, New York, 1935.
• Newspaper reviews quoted in Nicolas Slonimsky, The Lexicon of Musical Invective. Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1965. ISBN 0-295-78579-9
• Hans Keller: 'Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky', in Vol. I of 'The Symphony', ed. Robert Simpson (Harmondsworth, 1966).

External links

• http://www.tchaikovsky-research.net/en/Works/Symphonies/TH029/index.html
• Maytime at the Internet Movie Database
• Listen online from BBC Radio 3 website
• Recordings for personal use as performed by the Peabody Concert Orchestra
• Symphony No. 5 was available at the International Music Score Library Project.