Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique)

Download or read book Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique) written by Timothy L. Jackson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1999-10-07 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tchaikovsky's final symphony has fascinated generations of music lovers, amateur and specialist alike, since its first performance just over a century ago. Timothy L. Jackson explores sensitively and without prejudice the question of the Pathétique's program and its relation to Tchaikovsky's homosexuality and death. The book covers the work's conception, genesis, and reception, and presents an in-depth analysis of its remarkable formal structure. The reception chapter investigates the Pathétique's impact on Tchaikovsky's younger contemporaries, most notably Mahler and Rachmaninov, and on more recent Russian composers like Shostakovich and Schnittke. Also explored is the dark side of the symphony's political interpretation in the twentieth century, especially its transformation into a cultural icon of the Third Reich.