Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 3

Nowadays, Tchaikovsky’s first three sym- phonies seldom appear on the concert programmes, whereas his symphonies four to six – in other words, the symphonies generally recognized as masterpieces – are regularly included. And thus the three early symphonies share a fate that none of them have necessarily earned. After all, each in its own individual way is a worthwhile symphony: the composer certainly did not consider them to be preliminary works, a type of precursor to the later symphonies. From 1866 to 1878, Tchaikovsky taught harmony at the Moscow Conservatoire and during this period, he composed – among other works – his first three symphonies, namely in 1866, 1872, and 1875. And for Tchaikovsky, the journey leading to the symphony was not an easy one: on the con- trary, he trod a painful path before tapping into this high-end genre. This is proven, on the one hand, by the amount of time and energy he put into the creation of his sym- phonies, which was characterized by serious doubts about their quality; or, on the other hand, by the fundamental reworking of his second symphony, despite the success of its première. However, Tchaikovsky had a much easier time with his Symphony No. 3 in D.