you

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now there is a melody a pure orchestral
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song known and loved to the outermost
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reaches of the civilized world in fact
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to many people this series of notes is
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almost synonymous with the word melody
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its immediacy of appeal it's rising and
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falling line
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it's yearning and resignation all these
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have identified it as the essence of
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late Romanticism almost everyone agrees
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that Tchaikovsky was a surpassing
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toonsmyth a shaper of melodies second to
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none but some musical highbrows delight
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in asking the barbed question is
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Tchaikovsky really a symphonies since he
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is so great a mellow disc why didn't he
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stick to writing songs or at best opera
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what is this song we have just heard
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doing in a symphony anyway is it really
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a symphonic theme one is obliged to
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answer no it never gets developed in a
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proper symphonic way or in any way for
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that matter it appears as the second
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theme in the first movement and
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reappears dutifully in the
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recapitulation that is all does that
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make it symphonic material no then is
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this pathetique really a symphony yes
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let us see why actually if we browse
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through the work we find that this is
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the only melody that is not really
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thematic in a symphonic sense all the
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others partake much more of the nature
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of symphonic themes that is they are
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based on short motives or figures which
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can be altered in endless ways to affect
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a symphonic metamorphosis they are not
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simply Tunes that you go out whistling
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look at the slow introduction for
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instance
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this is rather a motive than a melody
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a motive that repeats in an ascending
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way
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out of it is born the main theme of the
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Allegro section certainly not something
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to whistle
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skipping for the moment over the second
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theme the beautiful melody we have
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already discussed we come upon a
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development section devoted almost
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entirely to the motives of the first
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theme and there are no further themes as
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such so you see that most of this first
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movement is not at all concerned with
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pure song
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moreover we could go through the other
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three movements in the same way with
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more or less the same findings and it
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turns out that the symphony is really
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more symphonic in character than its
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critics pretend well then what are those
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hyper critical critics fussing about why
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are they so hard on Tchaikovsky they
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would answer it is a matter of unity a
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form that kind of inevitable formal flow
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that makes the symphonies of Beethoven
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so great in Beethoven they point out B
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flows out of a and C out of B and D out
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of C in a way that makes you feel
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nothing else could possibly have come at
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any one point whereas with Tchaikovsky
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they say anything can happen anywhere in
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a sense they are right Tchaikovsky's
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formal procedures are somewhat academic
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following the general broad outlines
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laid down by the German masters but
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using those outlines for his own
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purposes melodic or dramatic rather than
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creating an original Sonata form out of
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the material itself this is important in
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the realm of the higher criticism but it
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does not make his symphonies any the
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less symphonies they are only of another
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category born of other impulses more
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immediately dramatic more concerned with
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shattering contrasts striking opposites
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variety rather than unity and given
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their place in history at the peak of
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19th century Romanticism they have their
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own validity but this argument alone
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would not sustain the validity of
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Tchaikovsky symphonies no matter how one
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argues there must always be unity some
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element of real form the sense of going
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forward that makes any good symphony a
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kind
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single journey through time and this
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Tchaikovsky has but in his own way what
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really binds these four movements of the
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pathetique together into one unit is the
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inner relation of all the material the
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Brotherhood of themes there are several
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distinct elements that unite the
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material in this work and the chief one
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is the constant use of simple scales up
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or down but mostly down which is natural
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I suppose in a so-called pathetic piece
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I was amazed when I first studied this
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work to find how much of the symphony is
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derived from scales out of them grow
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themes motives figurations counterpoint
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bass lines and even tunes going back to
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the very beginning we find that the slow
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introduction immediately presents a
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scale wise motive
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and this motive ascends scale-wise as we
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noted before when this motive turns into
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the main theme its progress is continued
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by pure eighth note to sending scales
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the first climax is achieved by an
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ascending scale followed by a descending
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one now there comes an episode in which
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the descending scale is again the
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controlling factor alternating between
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the bass and the treble
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a stronger climax is now reached using
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the scale wise motive as well as full
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rushing downward scales when all this
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scaly fury has finally subsided we are
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ready for the introduction of our famous
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popular song theme and even this begins
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with three notes of a descending scale
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the continuation of the melody is also
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based on scale motion now comes a bridge
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passage with more pulse and this time
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ascending scales of the chief material
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as it continues Tchaikovsky even
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introduces a counterpoint in the brass
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of a slower ascending scale so that we
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are now hearing scales within scales
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the exposition of themes is now complete
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and it seems that we have heard nothing
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but scales actually it is much more
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interesting than that and much of the
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interest derives from the great variety
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of ways in which Tchaikovsky handles
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these plain old scales