Tchaikovsky: The Pathétique Symphony

Thursday January 31, 2008	8:00 pm	Le Conseil des arts de Montréal en tournée Salle Désilets — Cégep Marie-Victorin
Monday February 4, 2008	7:30 pm	Great Concert Théâtre Maisonneuve — Place des Arts
Tuesday February 5, 2008	7:30 pm	Le Conseil des arts de Montréal en tournée Église Saint-Sixte
Wednesday February 6, 2008	7:30 pm	Le Conseil des arts de Montréal en tournée Église Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs
Thursday February 7, 2008	7:30 pm	Le Conseil des arts de Montréal en tournée Théâtre Outremont
Friday February 8, 2008	8:00 pm	Le Conseil des arts de Montréal en tournée [No pre-concert conference] Église Saint-Joachim

“… the best work I have ever written… and the most sincere… I love this score more than any other I have composed.”

Tchaïkovski, about the Pathétique Symphony.

Description

The Symphony No. 2 pays tribute to the Ukraine (or Little Russia, as it was once called) and its folk traditions. It is also one of Tchaikovsky’s most lighthearted works. The Pathétique, on the other hand, is as sombre as its title suggests. It deals with “fatum,” which the composer described as “the force of Fate that prevents the élan from culminating in happiness…” One of the masterpieces of Romantic music, the Pathétique innovates by echoing the opening movement’s sombre Adagio in the symphony’s final movement, the Adagio lamentoso, which expresses the most despairing pain.