Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64

Introduction

The Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was composed between May and August 1888 and was first performed in St Petersburg at the Mariinsky Theatre on November 17 of that year with Tchaikovsky conducting. It is dedicated to Theodor Avé-Lallemant.

Place of the 5th Symphony among Tchaikovsky's later symphonies

In the first ten years after graduating from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1865 Tchaikovsky completed three symphonies. After that he started five more symphony projects, four of which led to a completed symphony premiered during the composer's lifetime.

The fifth symphony was composed in 1888, between the Manfred Symphony of 1885 and the sketches for a Symphony in E-flat, which were abandoned in 1892 (apart from recuperating material from its first movement for an Allegro Brillante for piano and orchestra a year later). As for the numbered symphonies, Tchaikovsky's 5th symphony was composed between the 4th, which had been completed ten years earlier, and the 6th, composed 5 years later, in the year of the composer's death.

Program

Unlike its two predecessors, the 5th Symphony has no clear program. On 15 April 1888, about a month before he began composing the symphony, the composer sketched a scenario for its first movement in his notebook, containing "... a complete resignation before fate, which is the same as the inscrutable predestination of fate ..." It is however uncertain how much of this program has been realised in the composition.

Cyclical structure

Like the Symphony No. 4, the Fifth is a cyclical symphony, with a recurring main theme. Unlike the Fourth, however, the theme is heard in all four movements, a feature Tchaikovsky had first used in the Manfred Symphony, which was completed less than three years before the Fifth.

Description of the work

The Symphony is in four movements:

1. Andante - Allegro con anima (E minor) - Molto più tranquillo (D Major - E Major)
2. Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza (B Minor - D Major) - Non allegro (F-Sharp Minor) - Andante maestoso con piano (D Major)
3. Valse. Allegro moderato (A Major) (Trio in F-Sharp Minor)
4. Finale. Andante maestoso (E Major) - Allegro Vivace - Molto Vivace (E Minor) - Moderato assai e molto maestoso - Presto (E Major)

The symphony displays an overall tonal trajectory of e-minor to E-major. The first movement ends in the minor mode, which allows the narrative to continue through the rest of the symphony:

e-minor (1st mvt) → V⁷ (V4/2) of D-major (2nd mvt) →g#⁰⁷ (2nd mvt) → a-major (3rd mvt) →E-major (4th mvt) →C-major → e-minor → E major

The recurring main theme is used as a device to unify the four movements of the symphony. This motto theme, sometimes dubbed "Fate theme", has a funereal character in the first movement, but gradually transforms into a triumphant march, which dominates the final movement.

A typical performance of the Symphony lasts somewhat less than 50 minutes.