PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36

I. Andante sostenuto — Moderato con anima
II. Andantino in modo di canzona
III. Scherzo: Pizzicato ostinato
IV. Finale: Allegro con fuoco

“There is not a note in this symphony which I did not feel deeply, and which did not serve as an echo of sincere impulses within my soul,” wrote Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky of his Fourth Symphony, which he would call his “best symphonic work ever.” The genesis of the work arises from two meaningful events in 1877. The first is the start of his relationship with the benefactor Nadezhda von Meck. The second is the composer’s hasty and ill-fated marriage to his former pupil, Antonina Ivanovna Miliukova, and subsequent psychological crisis.

In the wake of these circumstances, Tchaikovsky threw himself into finishing the symphony in late 1877 into early 1878. He later revealed his inspiration to von Meck: “The introduction is the seed of the whole symphony, undoubtedly the main idea: This is fate: this is that fateful force which prevents the impulse to happiness from attaining its goal, which jealously ensures that peace and happiness shall not be complete and unclouded, which hangs above the head like the sword of Damocles, unwaveringly, constantly poisoning the soul. It is an invincible force that can never be overcome — merely endured, hopelessly.” The second movement represents “a whole procession of memories,” and the following Scherzo, plucked entirely by the strings in pizzicato, is filled with “whimsical arabesques, vague images.” The Finale, based on a Russian folksong, brushes off the previous sorrows and proclaims: “Rejoice in the rejoicing of others. To live is still possible.”