Symphony No. 1 (Tchaikovsky) - Form

Form

  1. Dreams of a Winter Journey. Allegro tranquillo
  2. Land of Desolation, Land of Mists. Adagio cantabile ma non tanto. This is an essentially monothematic structure, based on subtle gradations and variations on a single melody.
  3. Scherzo. Allegro scherzando giocoso. This was the earliest movement to be written. Salvaged from a piano sonata in C-sharp minor that he had written as a student, Tchaikovsky transposed the movement down a semitone to C minor and replaced the trio with the first of a whole line of orchestral waltzes.
  4. Finale. Andante lugubre—Allegro maestoso. Tchaikovsky uses the folk-song "Распашу ли я млада, младeшенка" (Raspashu li ya mlada, mladeshenka) as the basis for both the introduction and the second subject. This song also colors the vigorous first subject. Tchaikovsky had borrowed the folk-song motive into the prelude and the finale of his Cantata for the Opening of the Polytechnic Exhibition in Moscow 1872 (commemorating the bicentenary of the birth of Peter the Great).

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