An Introduction to Tchaikovsky's 'Pathetique' Symphony - A Farewell to Life

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A listener's guide to Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, the 'Pathetique', featuring a bit of history, a guide to the music, and recommended recordings. Discover Tchaikovsky's final piece - his swansong, premiered a week before his death.
Presented by Oscar Osicki

[@InsidetheScore]

Of course, by letting some of the great melodies play for their full length (how could I not!) this video is copyright claimed. But that's ok. I love sharing this music! If you'd like to support my work, you can visit: www.patreon.com/insidethescore Thanks - and enjoy this amazing symphony!

[@miro.georgiev97]

Ah, one of my favorite symphonies I've ever had the pleasure of listening to.

[@shakamarko7260]

Thanks Oscar for this delivery! I am a huge Tchaikovsky fan and you have indeed delivered! God bless!🙏🏽

[@felixdittrich5469]

Wait I always thought that most classical music that is at minimum 100 years old does not have a copyright.

[@albertbauli]

For me you forgot something important to say: in the last climax, while the melody in the violins is desperately going down there is an ascending scale made by the trombones and finished by the trompetes that seems to never stop where it should finally finishing in a great fortissimo that is defeated by the pessimistic final modulation. That, for me, is a representation of Tchaikovsky's last anger shout of resilience, a last desperate search for hope that is finally unucsesfull and is defeated as his life finally was.

[@graingerthomash.n.8900]

Thanks 4 yet another interesting video

[@JJJRRRJJJ]

This symphony has a very special place in my heart. I vividly remember over 3 years ago when I came home from work, laid down for a quick nap, and for whatever reason, thought I’d try listening to a symphony for the first time in my life. I had no prior interest or knowledge or background in classical music, but i was taken by a spontaneous moment of curiosity. I quickly googled “best symphonies” found a top ten list online, then picked one at random that was completely unfamiliar to me. This was the one I picked. I gave it a few minutes of active listening, when I remember being suddenly transfixed at the stunning melody of the first movement’s theme. It was unlike anything I’d experienced before, and immediately understood how people could enjoy classical music. I listened to this symphony at least four or five times that evening (and many dozens of times since then), and have been obsessed with classical music ever since. It is the only music I listen to, and I frequently travel around the Midwest to live concerts. In fact, i saw the Chicago Symphony Orchestra perform this piece under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas.

[@Lilaliba88]

JR this is the most beautiful testimony EVER😭😭❤️❤️❤️

[@Lordran__]

INCREDIBLE. Words aren’t enough to describe this Symphony & Classical Music.

[@alexandrugheorghe5610]

Well done! 🙌🏻👌🏻💪🏻👍🏻

[@jamesrobiscoe1174]

A beautiful story of discovery, JR. from your fellow classical lover and brother initialist.

[@waynedombrowski7568]

It was a joy to read your comment! I'm similar. I was a rock & roll guitarist from age 10 to 18,then I heard Debussy.I discovered classical guitarist Alirio Diaz,who could make a solo instrument sound like 3. By 21,I was a Music Theory and Composition major at Cleveland State U.,where they had a huge vinyl collection(it was 1980).It was a feast:from Ancient to Contemporary,from Afghan to Indonesian. Oh,the discoveries I made! It was if I had lived on a diet of lunch meat my whole life,and I'd stumbled onto a smorgesbord - some of the sweetest memories of my life.

[@platypao]

IMHO, possibly the greatest symphony ever written. I’m addicted to it.

[@wyatony]

I feel the same

[@kaypie3112]

@@wyatony That makes three of us. There aren’t enough superlatives to describe it.

[@lucaspedraza6161]

@@kaypie3112 4

[@danieldubei]

Tchaikovsky himself absolutely LOVED this symphony. It brought him immense joy to compose it. It's my favorite of all of his works.

[@salifscott4664]

for 9 days

[@LucasLopesComposer]

I always loved "classical music" since my introduction to it by Disney's "Fantasia". Tchaikovsky was there with a ballet, but not with a Symphony. Fastfoward to young me wanting to watch a orquestra live for the first time. I knew that OSESP, Brazil greatest orquestra, was (and still is) considered one of the best in the world. So I just went to a concert with my family for the very first time. We sat at the most affordable seats, behind the orquestra, excatly behind the Timpani (LOL WE DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THE SUDDEN CRASH IN THE FIRST MOVEMENT) I didn't even knew what music was going to be played. That night changed my life. First came Mozart's piano concerto in D minor, the 20th concerto. Beutiful. We were NOT ready for what was to come next after the break. Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony took me by storm, when it ended I knew I wanted to become a composer, and I had tears in my eyes, not only of joy. The last movement was something that I did not know the context, but I could feel it in the music and the interpretation. I consider myself lucky. My first time watching a orquestra live, they played my favorite piece. And it was totally random.

[@TheMarcHicks]

Oh, also, an introduction to either Rachmaninoff's 2nd Symphony or 2nd Piano Concerto (or even both!) would be great to see on this channel.

[@andyxyz01]

If you like Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto, please visit my profile. I have uploaded the first movement of it along with some images.

[@CrossingWolfi]

The short excerpt at 9:45 is the most powerful moment in music I ever heard.

[@jody.lumbantoruan]

Who else thought that 3rd movement was last movement? Tbh it got me there.

[@InsidetheScore]

That movement is often followed by huge applause - suddenly shattered by the fourth movement's beginning

[@shakamarko7260]

Ikr! The ending is just bombastic!

[@TheMarcHicks]

Yep. First time I listened to this symphony (on audio tape) I truly thought the 3rd movement was the finale. To be fair, though, I was only around 9 years old at the time 😉.

[@cabal4171]

@@InsidetheScore when I heard this live, before the performance the conductor warned the audience not to clap.. at least half of them did 😂

[@Lilaliba88]

Jodi Ivan Lumbantoruan hahaha, we also got such a huge clap after the 3rd mvt when we performed it with our philharmonic 😂😂🙈

[@sexpen]

I have put my whole soul into this work [The Pathetique Symphony] . . . You cannot imagine what joy I feel at the thought that my days are not yet over and that I may still accomplish much. 🌈Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

[@WetaMantis]

Hélas...

[@aaronzook9540]

Thanks for this lovely analysis. Tchaikovsky was my first love, and this symphony is quite simply my favorite piece of music. It is revolutionary in so many ways-- and that last movement reduces me to wretched tears every time. Sublime.

[@jamesrobiscoe1174]

With you, Aaron. It makes me almost feel the hot breath of desolation in the man... He sings and sighs, laughs and hopes, shakes with sorrow, and every step of the way he is so intimate and candid to us.

[@SlayerAOD]

The final part always breaks me to pieces. The emotional load is intens and the buildup is one of the best i have ever heard. Together with the 2nd and 8th of Mahler and 9th of Beethoven my favourite

[@daviddichmann4905]

This is still the absolute best content in terms of classical music on KZbin. Thank you for the efforts!

[@johnkerton6428]

Was really happy to see you did an analysis for this piece as it was the symphony that got me into symphonies. I think that was largely due to the beautiful theme in the first movement but as I listened more I started to appreciate all the details. The beginning of the development in the first movement always used to give me a heart attack though haha.

[@carlooliverolayta1552]

I love this Symphony!!! The second theme of the first movement is sooooooo emotional and I love it so much, especially the climax of it towards the end of the movement. Very Beautiful!

[@goonhoongtatt1883]

What a less beautiful world we would live in now had Tchaikovsky never lived.

[@TheAgjarr]

From Russia with love! Thank you for this video!

[@blackcanarygaming9930]

Bond movie?

[@musiccubed2650]

I'll be honest, I first heard part of this symphony in the Merchant-Ivory film Maurice which I watched recently and I fell in love with it

[@postmodernrecycler]

The second movement on piano rolls!!! I love that scene. The 2nd mvmt has been proposed as a broken-ankled waltz of adolescent awakening, which fits perfectly for this scene in 'Maurice'.

[@aidanbirdi9089]

I still remember listening to this one the first time perhaps 4/5 years ago now. I was hooked - especially by that second subject in the first movement that I had to tell some friends about it when I first heard it. It was definitely one of the pieces that cemented a deep love of classical music. All of it is absolutely top notch, but I remember it being hard to follow with such a long symphony, having mainly listened to Beethoven's symphonies and smaller works beforehand. I always thought of this symphony as a battle for life-affirmment, and it tells a story throughout each movement. Life has its high ups and low downs, but Tchaikovksy concluded by the end, despite shallow clingings to beauty, either that life-affirmment was a losing fight or the inevitability and finality of death overshadowed life. This obviously might add to the theories about the nature of Tchaikovsky's death. To compare this, I've always thought of this alongside Mahler's Second, Ninth and Tenth Symphonies, focusing on similar issues, with slighlty different twists. Obviously Mahler's Ninth is likely more a representation of what the dying Mahler thought, as it's what he spent more of his time on in the last year or so of his life.

[@joeltip3106]

I love these podcasts.

[@williamford9564]

My first exposure to classical music was in the mid and late 1970s and my first introduction to this piece came indirectly in 1981 from hearing the second subject of the first movement in a pop album called Hooked on Classics. This was a montage of many classical sections and melodies. The theme was sped up on this album and when I listened to the actual symphony for the first time, that second subject in its proper classical tempo it gave me chills and I was also completely astonished by the third movement. Since then I have listened to it thousands of times. It is in there with Beethoven's 5th and 9th, his Emperor Concerto and Sibelius' Karelia Suite in my 5 all time favorite pieces.

[@coplandrose524]

The Seoul Philharmonic also has an amazing live recording of this

[@franciscowalker5104]

Tchaikovsky, like Rachmaninoff is an absolute genius as a composer and musician; he brings you to glorious or very melancholic moods; he is a master of orchestration; he has composed so many of very enchanting as well as haunting melodies. What a great lost to have him passing at only 53 years of age. Great immense musician!!

[@iancrossley6637]

My favorite symphony of all time. I had the privilege of hearing the LSO play it in London. My absolute top memory of classical music.

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

You missed that there is a reason why the "recapitulation" of the first movement is cut short. It is because it actually begins during the development section when the main theme suddenly shows up.

[@Hamish_Wright]

I think I agree with you. I feel like the recapitulation actually begins at the part he plays at 9:01 in this video.

[@cabal4171]

I saw this live, it was amazing

[@davidsimons5944]

Years ago I experimented with that split counterpoint trick in my electronic music studio. I didn't have the score so I worked out the alternating notes in my head. Each part sounds like a new melody you normally don't hear. I wrote the 2 parts into a sequencer & assigned the 1st & 2nd violins to 2 separate string sounds on synthesisers panned to stereo left & right. The result is amazing & a revelation. I can still hum those 2 hidden melody lines now.

[@leopoldkellermann7392]

My all-time favourite piece!❤️

[@reaganb6013]

this is my favorite symphony. the first time i listened to it, it brought tears to my eyes, and i still get chills every time i listen to it

[@Lordran__]

The subject @ 15:30 is one of the best passages of music ever written. I wish Tchaikovsky expanded upon it much more.

[@williamford9564]

9:49: I read a few decades ago that this section by the brass was based on a Russian Orthodox funeral march, which if true may have supported the theory that Tchaikovsky wrote this a prelude to his death.

[@fredrickroll06]

It's a quotation of a passage in the Russian Orthodox requiem service with the text: "And rest him with the saints."

[@AndrewSearaCanada]

How can it be that you do a video of every single piece that I love and about every single though that i share with you???!!! You are awesome!!!

[@AndrewSearaCanada]

Although I have to say that my all time favourite recording of this symphony is the 1985 version of Evgeny Svetlanov with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra. It is in youtube if you want to check it out 😉

[@_zh3ro_]

AMAZING as usual. I'd love to hear your analysis of Strauss' Death and transfiguration. Much love.

[@JamesBaker-ds6jn]

'a farewell to life' Any chance of a Bruckner video?

[@luxcorvi5396]

That's my favourite piece! :D

[@kyle-silver]

He didn't write this as a suicide note though, he was planning a conducting world tour and needed new music that raised the bar from his fifth symphony

[@peterandreaskirklossius825]

Just love these videos

[@mr-wx3lv]

I'm always amazed at this sheer masterpiece. How he even had the strength to create such a piece right at the end of his life.

[@Dragontrumpetare]

One of my favorites symphonies too

[@Lordran__]

Definitely in my top 5

[@roverchap]

You didn't mention the spine-chilling solemn chorale on the trombones and tuba which follows the gong stroke in the finale. This is a wonderful moment.

[@Invert_Scrub]

This work is by far one of my favorites

[@graingerthomash.n.8900]

Tchaikovsky was the classical composer I first discovered too... His music just appeals , speaks for itself... Could you do some Schubert next time?

[@WetaMantis]

He is extremely easy to approach having composed some of the most popular music ever written, everything he composed was not just good but great. Sometimes a prolific composer is known only for a couple tunes or passed away too fast to become famous but Tchaïkovski is one of the exceptions.

[@bitsar4093]

just listend to this symfony for the fist time, watched a video of the Simon Bolivar youth orchestra directed by Claudio Abbado. it moved me profoundly.

[@raponte303]

love these videos!! i would love to see one on a Bruckner symphony. keep it up señor :)

[@ulianasadova7438]

Please, make a video about Schubert's Unfinished Symphony.

[@samaritan29]

Please do a video on mahler symphonies 5, 6 or 7 !!!

[@maultasche668]

The 10th...

[@scriabinismydog2439]

Damn this video remembers me that I have to listen to Tchaikovsky more often! Btw, I know that you get a shit ton of requests but I'd absolutely love an Episode on Rachmaninoff's 1st or 2nd Sympohonies or Scriabin's Symphony-poems (The Poem of Ecstasy and Prometheus a Poem of Fire)

[@neorich59]

I have the Neville Mariner, conducting The Academy of St Martin in the fields version. The 3rd movement is simply stunning! For me, Tchaikovsky is the greatest of all the Russian composers and (along with Korsakov) the greatest of all orchestrators. The 3rd movement leaves me exhausted with joy. Nobody else knows how to finish a piece like Tchaikovsky. The 4th movement leaves me in utter despair. It always gives me the impression of a soul in torment.

[@anEyePhil]

How could you leave out the "heart" of this Symphony? Section "L" of the fourth movement is a beautiful mournful Chorale featuring only two tenor trombones, one bass trombone and one tuba. The harmonic structure is genius. The initial B minor chord changes to G7 (bass trom and tuba moving semitones down (bass trom) and up (tuba) to make the change. Get a score and look at Figure L in the last movement Adagio Lamentoso. A key moment in Russian Romantic music.

[@DiMo28]

This is still my favorite.

[@jonathanweir585]

MAN I love these videos. Aye I hope to see some Richard Strauss in there soon 😉 Also, would LOVE to see a collab with Richard Atkinson!! You both are amazing and have further inspired my own course I teach on Music Appreciation!

[@luisbreva6122]

Rachmaninov's 2nd

[@brambakker5253]

Symphony or piano concerto

[@luisbreva6122]

@@brambakker5253 Initially I meant symphony but the concerto would be cool aswell

[@fieuline2536]

Good stuff!

[@shakamarko7260]

But why did you make it so short? I really feel that there's much more that you could have brought out from this symphony, especially based on how in-depth you usually analyse other works.

[@TheMarcHicks]

Never knew the 2nd movement was in 5/4 time.

[@tobisagoschu]

Hey, I am a big fan of yours and your work. Just wondering, are you planning on doing an analysis for St Matthew Passion by Bach or St Francois d'Assise by Messiaen? Keep up the good work!

[@DasParkaeffchen]

Will there ever be a new "Discover" episode? I love this series!

[@PanagiotisLafkaridis]

Thanks for the insights. Please do Walton symphony 1?

[@Poempedoempoex]

You should do the Rite of Spring next!

[@theharry801]

could you cover a mahler symphony next? maybe the 8th, theres a lot of good analytical points in the 2nd movement

[@maultasche668]

Yes Mahler 8 would be so nice

[@bullcutgaming7749]

Would you consider balancing your voice volume with the music volume in future videos, as I sometimes have trouble hearing music at all and your voice too loud

[@jesschil266]

I personally thought the dying out of the ending, was at peace and quite graceful. Not as dark as you interpreted it.

[@helmme8751]

How about Shostakovich? Maybe his 4th or 11th Symphony? If not, maybe Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra?

[@jeffwatkins352]

Excellent precise of this towering masterpiece. I would have reveled in a video twice as long or more, but you do a fine job even at this length. I'd be curious to know what you think of Ken Russell's approach to this music in his film The Music Lovers (a controversial subject even 4 decades after its release). IMO Russell's visualization of the 1st Piano Concerto's 2nd movement remains the finest embodiment of classical music ever seen in film. I know...some will vilify me for this opinion and I don't care. Truth is truth.

[@craigstephenson7676]

You should do one on Liebesträume by Lizst

[@matanja1]

Plz more vids like those, maybe you can make one about tumbue de cuprein?

[@maultasche668]

Do you know the first symphony of Hans Rott? I would really appreciate an analysis on this unfortunately quite unknown symphony which is so great. Especially the influence on Mahler is astonashing. Would be so nice !

[@uzefulvideos3440]

Seems like Gottfried Huppertz and Charlie Chaplin got a lot of inspiration from this piece.

[@shadipahlavi]

Great video,, i watch all ur videos ;;,plz make similar analatic videos about pop songs 2 👍👍👏

[@kioselnelio4598]

Do Vivaldi's Seasons and The Ma Vlast tone poems (whole thing)

[@felixdittrich5469]

Nah not Vivaldi. But Smetanas Ma Vlast ist great. Not just the Moldau, but all the other movements too.

[@TheMarcHicks]

Have you done Brahms' First Symphony yet? I love that piece.

[@maidros85]

Hi, ItS-guy. Do you have any opinion on the Blade Runner Blues track by Vangelis? I have been captivated by it for years, and I noticed that there are many videos on KZbin featuring it. I would love to see a video one day on your analysis of it. Maybe when and if a new Blade Runner comes out. :)

[@sourjyabanerjee9310]

Who shall ever know...probably Tchaikovsky DID end his own life 😢

[@Dmichoacan]

is it possible for you to link the Karajan recording? i can’t find the specific one you mentioned 😔😔😔

[@kmk8284]

Imagine if Tchaikovsky really intended the 3rd movement to be the Finale. And the finale was the 3rd movement. It'd be great but it might not have the same effect as those used by Tchaikovsky himself

[@Grant_Michael_Layman]

Are these podcasts on spotify?

[@felixdittrich5469]

Yeah they are.

[@rzbo9000]

I agree Rachmaninoff 2nd symphony, or even Dvorak's 8th would be great

[@sammywestenberger9303]

Mark Watters Isolated Score Tchaikovsky Ballet 🩰

[@smashissocool65]

Would you do a opera series

[@neil7137]

Which recording is this?

[@treyserrano2817]

strauss ein heldenleben or shostakovich 5 or 7 plzzzz

[@niek024]

Benjamin Zander did a great pre-concert talk on Ein Heldenleben. It's on the YT-channel of the Boston Philharmonic.

[@guilhermehuyer]

You could post a comment with these suggestions of recordings...

[@youcouldvebeengettingdownt5620]

You are doing the Lord’s work. Allow me to return the favor by unskipping the ad for you.

[@PaulGordonBusby]

A beautiful, well-crafted piece of music. How sad that now and in the future, Russia will be not be remembered for its wonderful composers but for the savagery of its armed forces in the war with Ukraine.

[@claytonbenignus4688]

I found Tchaikovsky’s Sixth to be too intensely bitter for me. It’s too depressing for me. The brilliant things Tchaikovsky does only makes things worse. I usually have to go for some Antidote in the form of the upbeat Tchaikovsky’s Fifth or Borodin’s Third. I am convinced that Tchaikovsky’s anticipated suicide weighed heavily on him during the composition of the Sixth Symphony and it shows.

[@jordanmcintyre5148]

"sikth"

[@sulkhantsintsadze4244]

Everybody wants to make from Tchaikovsky a homosexual.How do they know that? Did he tell us that personal? Or do we believe the books and the media??? This black/white thinking is so simplistic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@archubiclub5736]

He did write it in his letters.

[@rcrinsea]

The evidence is overwhelming.