Allegro vivo in c minor tchaikovsky biography

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (5/7/1840, Votkinsk-11/6/1893, Saint Petersburg)

Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17, “Little Russian” (1872, rev.

1879-80)

Orchestra: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, cymbals, tam-tam), orchestral strings

Length: ca. 35 minutes

I.

Andante sostenuto -- Allegro vivo (C minor)

II. Andantino marziale quasi moderato (E-flat major)

III. Scherzo: Allegro molto vivace (C minor)

IV. Finale: Moderato assai — Allegro vivo (C major)

Tchaikovsky began work on his exuberantly folksy Symphony No.

2 in the summer of 1872. On break from his post at the Moscow Conservatory, the 32-year-old professor of harmony was vacationing at the estate of his beloved younger sister, Alexandra (aka Sasha), and her husband, Lev Davidoff.

Now, the tendency to play armchair-psychologist and attribute autobiographical origins to Tchaikovsky's arti