Overture Magazine 2019-20 BSO_Overture_Sept_Oct | Page 15

TCHAIKOVSKY SYMPHONY NO. 4
“O joy! At least one sweet and tender
dream has appeared. Some beatific,
luminous human image flies by, beckoning
us on: [the sweeping, waltz-like music]…
[Return of Fate fanfare] “No! They
were only dreams, and Fatum awakes us.
…So life itself is the incessant alternation
of painful reality and evanescent dreams
of happiness…”
Movement 2: “The second part of the
symphony expresses a different aspect
of human anguish. It is the melancholy
feeling that appears in the evening, when
you are sitting alone.…Memories swarm
around you. You feel sad about what was
and is no more.…It is sad and somehow
sweet to sink into the past.”
Movement 3: “The third part…is made
up of the capricious arabesques…that pass
through the mind when one has drunk
a little wine and feels the first phase of
intoxication. The soul is neither merry nor
sad. One does not think of anything; one
leaves free rein to the imagination, and,
for some reason, it begins to draw strange
designs.…These are the disconnected
pictures that pass though the head when
one goes to sleep. They have nothing in
common with reality; they are bizarre,
strange, incoherent.”
Finale: “If you do not find cause for
joy in yourself, look to others. Go to the
people…They make merry and surrender
wholeheartedly to joyful feelings. Picture
a popular festival. Scarcely have you
forgotten yourself and become interested
in the spectacle of other people’s joy, when
the tireless Fatum appears again and
reminds you of his existence.…Do not say
that everything is sad in the world. There
exist simple but deep joys.…Life can still
be lived.
“This, my dear friend, is all I can tell
you about the symphony. Of course, it is
unclear and incomplete, but this is in the
nature of instrumental music.…As Heine
said: ‘Where words end, music begins.’”
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exclusively through letters and never to
meet. For 14 years, they poured out their
innermost feelings to each other. She gave
him a generous annual stipend that freed
him from financial worries. He stayed at
her estate when she was away. Years later
when they accidentally encountered each
other on a street in Florence, they raced
past each other in embarrassment. For
a man of homosexual inclination who
nevertheless yearned for closeness with
a woman, it was an ideal situation.
Less ideal was Tchaikovsky’s
relationship with his dark angel,
Antonina Milyukova, whom the
composer — hoping to create a
“respectable” home life for himself —
foolishly agreed to marry in July 1877.
The relationship was a disaster from the
beginning and drove the composer to
a nervous breakdown. He fled his new
bride almost immediately and for years
traveled throughout Europe to avoid her.
The Fourth Symphony was conceived
during this turmoil— drafted before
the marriage and orchestrated in
the aftermath — and the continual
appearances of a disturbing “Fate”
fanfare, the turbulence of its first
movement and the almost hysterical
rejoicing of its finale reflect it.
Dedicating the symphony to her,
Tchaikovsky turned to his “best friend,”
Mme von Meck, for solace. He kept her
continuously apprised of the progress
of “our symphony.” When she begged
him for a “program” explaining what
the music “meant,” he at first demurred
but finally obliged with the following
expressive movement descriptions.
Movement 1: “The introduction
[the loud fanfare theme] is the seed
of the whole symphony, without a
doubt its main idea. This is Fatum, the
fateful force that prevents our urge for
happiness from achieving its end, …
hangs over our heads like the sword of
Damocles, and constantly, unceasingly,
poisons our soul .…
“Discontent and despair grow stronger,
become more scathing. Would it not be
better to turn one’s back upon reality and
plunge into dreams? [the solo clarinet’s
wistful theme]…
Works by Schubert, Brahms, Falla,
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Notes by Janet E. Bedell, © 2019

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