Vasily Petrenko Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840−1893) wrote the Manfred Symphony between his Fourth and Fifth Symphonies in 1885, based on Lord Byron’s dramatic poem Manfred. The initiative for the symphony came from two of the most influential men in the Russian cultural sphere, composer Mily Balakirev and the critic Vladimir Stasov. Tchaikovsky was not enthusiastic about their suggestion, but after reading Byron’s poem and contemplating young Manfred’s pangs of conscience he began to write. Manfred, which premiered in 1886, is Tchaikovsky’s longest symphony and the one that requires the largest orchestra.