Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.1, Op.13

Introduction

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote his Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Winter Daydreams (or Winter Dreams) (Russian: Зимние грёзы, Zimniye gryozy), Op. 13, in 1866, just after he accepted a professorship at the Moscow Conservatory: it is the composer's earliest notable work. The composer's brother Modest claimed this work cost Tchaikovsky more labor and suffering than any of his other works. Even so, he remained fond of it, writing to his patroness Nadezhda von Meck in 1883 that "although it is in many ways very immature, yet fundamentally it has more substance and is better than any of my other more mature works." He dedicated the symphony to Nikolai Rubinstein.

Form

1. Dreams of a Winter Journey. Allegro Tranquillo (G minor)
2. Land of Desolation, Land of Mists. Adagio cantabile ma non tanto (E-flat major)

   This movement has an essentially monothematic structure, based on subtle gradations and variations on a single melody.

3. Scherzo. Allegro scherzando giocoso (C minor)

   This was the earliest movement to be written. Salvaged from the third movement of a piano sonata that he had written as a student, Tchaikovsky transposed the movement down a semitone to C minor and replaced the trio with the first of a whole line of orchestral waltzes.

4. Finale. Andante lugubre (G Minor) - Allegro maestoso (G Major)

   Tchaikovsky uses the folk-song "Распашу ли я млада, младeшенка" (Raspashu li ya mlada, mladeshenka) as the basis for both the introduction and the second subject (in B minor). This song also colors the vigorous first subject. Tchaikovsky had borrowed the folk-song motive into the prelude and the finale of his Cantata for the Opening of the Polytechnic Exhibition in Moscow 1872 (commemorating the bicentenary of the birth of Peter the Great).Tchaikovsky, in the recapitulation, restates the movement's introduction, instead of the secondary theme. The movement ends with a vigorous coda.

Instrumentation

The symphony is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets (A, B-flat), two bassoons, four horns (E-flat, F), two trumpets (C, D), three trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, bass drum and strings.