Kort & klassisk
Klaus Mäkelä Pyotr Tchaikovsky

“The introduction is the seed of the entire symphony and undoubtedly the central theme. It is Fate, the fateful force that prevents the impulse to happiness (...) an invincible force that can never be defeated,” Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1841-1893) wrote in the winter of 1878.

The words describe his newly written Symphony No. 4 and is quoted from a letter to his close friend and supporter, Nadezhda von Meck. The year before, Tchaikovsky suffered from a severe breakdown, and the symphony he wrote later has been called his Fate Symphony.

If Fate could not be overcome, the composer found a way to endure it through music. This is how he describes his fourth and last movement: “If you find no reason for joy in yourself, then to others. Walk among people. (...) Rejoice over the jubilations of others. Living is still possible.”