Symphony No. 5 (Tchaikovsky)

[1] In the first ten years after graduating from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1865 Tchaikovsky completed three symphonies.

4, however, the theme is heard in all four movements, a feature Tchaikovsky had first used in the Manfred Symphony, which was completed less than three years before No.

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.

Motive X frames the secondary theme group by preceding the ST and reiterating D major afterwards.

This can be interpreted as an effort to re-establish sonority in D. The re-transition to recapitulation is rather abrupt, yet a clever use of common tone modulation can be observed.

Instead, a common chord modulation leads to a D major theme first introduced by a solo horn.

Moreover, the segmentation of a theme, fugato texture, and rapid shift of hyper meter contributes to the instability of this section.

One could interpret this as a preparation for I6, but also as a structural leading tone to the next movement (G♯7 → A), especially since the unwinding from the climactic restatement of the motto theme occurs relatively hesitantly and what follows seems to diminish away.

The exposition of the last movement begins in E minor, whilst the D major sonority seeks to establish itself.

The sixth statement of the motto theme is in E minor, leading to an emphatic Perfect Authentic Cadence (PAC) in B major.

The second movement, in particular, is considered to be classic Tchaikovsky: well crafted, colorfully orchestrated, and with a memorable melody for solo horn.

Possibly for its very clear 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 performances during those years.

As the second movement began, bombs started to fall nearby, but the orchestra continued playing until the final note.

On the symphony's first performance in the United States, critical reaction, especially in Boston, was almost unanimously hostile.

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.

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's 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.

"Farewell, Amanda", written by Cole Porter for the 1949 Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn film Adam's Rib, draws liberally from the 4th movement of Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony.

[3] It is suggested by Ian MacDonald that a fragment of the "fate" theme is quoted by Dmitri Shostakovich in his Symphony No.