Search - Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Yehudi Menuhin, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra :: Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6; Marche Slave

Tchaikovsky had a seemingly endless capacity for misery, but if the troughs of his despair were deep, his bouts of happiness could reach ecstatic heights. It was this same volatile temperament which contributed so much to his musical output, and if he was guilty of wearing his heart on his sleeve, it was a fault that was more than compensated for in the wonderfully heart-wrenching music he produced. These despairs and passionate outpourings receive perhaps their greatest expression in the Sixth Symphony, which can in many ways be seen as the culmination of his life's work. Tchaikovsky's Marche Slave was written in 1876 in a fit of patriotic fervor, occasioned by news of atrocities committed by the Turks against Serbia. As young Russian soldiers began to enlist, the composer expressed his pride in his country, and he wrote the highly popular Marche in about five days. The piece is colorfully orchestrated and makes use of three different Serbian folk tunes in addition to the Tsarist national anthem.