The Saddest Piece of Music, Revisited

Our orchestra will perform Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, the "Pathétique" Symphony this fall. As noted earlier in this blog, the last movement is one of extreme sadness and tragedy. There were events in Tchaikovsky's life that precipitated this emotional dimension in his composition.

I decided to practice the first violin part. To my amazement, that famous descending melody wasn't even there at the beginning of the movement! "Where is it?", I wondered. "Maybe it's really the second violins playing that melody?"

I went online to see if I could find a score and clear up this mystery. I simply typed in "Tchaikovsky+symphony no. 6+score" and, immediately, I received the pdf file of the complete orchestral score. Looking at the last movement, I found the answer to my question.



The first note of the melody, F#, is played by the second violins. The second note of the melody, E, is played by the first violins.
The third note of the melody, D, is played by the second violins.
The fourth note of the melody, C#, is played by the first violins.
The fifth note of the melody, B, is played by the second violins.
The final note of the melody, C# is played by the first violins.

In this way Tchaikovsky created an aural effect. Reading further on the Internet, I discovered that, in Tchaikovsky's time, the first violins were seated on the left, in front, as they are today and the second violins were seated on the right, in front. So the notes of the melody are passed back and forth between the violin sections.

Here are some further notes about this symphony: http://www.musicweb-international.com/programme_notes/tchaik_sym6.htm

The author of this article states:
Placing the Slow Movement (adagio lamentoso) last was revolutionary, but entirely logical if you're after a really depressing ending. From the flaming heights of triumph or (more logically) hysteria, it is a long, long drop to the depths of despondency. The stifling descent of strings is a dramatic masterstroke. Yet, alarmingly, this famous theme is only a figment of the modern practice of placing first and second violins together. In Tchaikovsky's day, the left/right opposition of first and second violins would have revealed, antiphonally, the intended intertwining of two different strands.

Well, I guess a lot of musicians know about this, but it was new for me and extremely interesting to study!