Orchestral Suite No. 3 (Tchaikovsky)

[1] The suite's first performance was in Saint Petersburg, Russia on January 24, 1885, under the direction of Hans von Bülow.

3 calls for: 3 flutes (one of them piccolo), 2 oboes, 1 English horn, 2 clarinets (in A), 2 bassoons, 4 horns (in F), 2 trumpets (in F and D), 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, side drum, tambourine, triangle, cymbals, bass drum, harp and strings (violins 1 & 2, violas, celli, double basses).

This continuity, he suggests, "casts doubt on the freedom he so cherished when writing the First Suite six years earlier."

[9] Tchaikovsky believed the public would appreciate the new suite; of the reception at its premiere, he wrote to his patroness Nadezhda von Meck six days after the event that "reality far exceeded my expectations.

"[10] The composer's brother Modest later claimed it was the greatest public triumph up to that point for a Russian symphonic work.

[11] Tchaikovsky's first two orchestral suites had also been received very warmly by the public and the critics, but the composer had not attended either of their premieres.

The Third Suite most notably explores further the melodic and orchestral possibilities exposed in its two predecessors as well as for Tchaikovsky's return to large-scale variation form.

[11] The final movement, Tema con variazioni, is a wonderful example of the composer's creative genius and it is a locus classicus of scoring.