Orchestral Suite No. 1 (Tchaikovsky) - Structure

Structure

Some critics have stated that, since Tchaikovsky used specific pre-classical types for the outer movements (Introduction and Fugue and Gavotte), his model for this work was the Baroque suite and not, as he had written to von Meck, the orchestral suites of Franz Lachner.

The suite is written in six movements.

1. Introduzione e fuga: Andante sostenuto—Moderato e con anima

   A very spacious and portentous introduction (the Baroque equivalent of a prelude) leads into what could be called an "academic" fugue since its climax steps away from Baroque practice, very loudly, into the 19th century. The movement's end, however, is quiet.

2. Divertimento: Allegro moderato

   This movement could have just as easily been titled Valse. Tchaikovsky gives the clarinet the task of "discovering" the opening tune. There is also a section of the three flutes' chattering that will return for the Mirlitons' Dance in The Nutcracker.

3. Intermezzo: Andantino semplice

   This movement is more restrained in tone. Its first subject is actually a "glosting" of the fugue subject from the opening movement. It alternates with a broad, sustained melody in a five-section A-B-A-B-A structure.

4. Marche miniature: Moderato con moto

   Scored for upper woodwind, with very discreeet contributions from the violins, triangle and bells, this music's confectionery lightness would have allowed it to fit easily into The Nutcracker.

5. Scherzo: Allegro con moto

   This was the first movement to be composed and was the reason for the suite's actually being written.

6. Gavotte: Allegro

   Tchaikovsky may have chosen to model this movement after a stately Baroque dance, but the music had less to do with J. S. Bach's style than it does, with its discreet piquancy, as a precursor to the corresponding movement in Sergei Prokofiev's Classical Symphony.