Perhaps Bernstein found a release for his own conflicted life in the work with which Tchaikovsky ended his own. His death was officially attributed to cholera, but rumors and theories have persisted over the years, driven in part by the romantic notion of the sixth symphony as a musical farewell, as to whether the infection was accidental or suicidal. . The movement descends into chaos as the themes are developed, ripped apart, and tossed about in a tempest of sound. The paradox is that this new kind of slow movement, something only Tchaikovsky could sustain, took more confidence and more compositional boldness to conceive than any of the other movements that are reliant on pre-existing models. There is also evidence that Tchaikovsky was unlikely to have been depressed while composing the symphony, with his brother noting of him after he had sent the manuscript for publishing, "I had not seen him so bright for a long time past. He is most known for the Broadway musical West Side Story which is performed worldwide and has been featured in films. The second performance, conducted by Eduard Npravnk, took place 21 days later, at a memorial concert on 18 November [O.S. [7] Background [ edit] After completing his 5th Symphony in 1888, Tchaikovsky did not start thinking about his next symphony until April 1891, on his way to the United States. Russia National Orchestra/Mikhail Pletnev: Pletnev and his orchestra create the dreamiest, almost impressionistic hibernal gloom. Tchaikovsky's manuscript full score is now preserved in the Russian National Museum of Music in Moscow (. Portrait of Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) - his Sixth Symphony changed at a stroke what a symphony could be. To say it's a musically tall order is putting it mildly. It is probably no coincidence that the movement, with its stormy character through restless strings, wind-like whistling woodwinds and thundering brass instruments, is reminiscent of the finale from Joachim Raff's Symphony No. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony (BMG 60920) and Oscar Fried and the Royal Philharmonic (Lys 200) left us wildly impulsive and improvisatory 1930 and 1932 readings, building to scorching adagios of frenzied intensity. Composed by P. Tchaikovsky, Op.???" [23], A suggested program has been what Taruskin disparagingly termed "symphony as suicide note". You can't imagine how blissful I feel in the conviction that my time is not yet passed, and to work is still possible. Mahler, Shostakovich, Sibelius, and many others could not have composed the symphonies they did without the example of Tchaikovskys Sixth. The 5/4 signature occasionally surfaces in jazz (Dave Brubeck's "Take Five") and rarely in rock (Ginger Baker's "Do What You Like"), but was unheard in classical music, until this. Born on March 1, 1810 in Poland. Tchaikovsky himself, having supposedly approved his brothers Russian word (Patetiteskaja) for the work (a better translation of which is passionate in English), and having decided against calling the piece A Programme Symphony, sent his publisher the instructions that it was simply his Sixth Symphony in B Minor, dedicated to his nephew Bob Davydov. Unlike the first movement, this struggle manifests in brief tonicization of D-major, as well as V7 of D-major (mm. 1, Op. The first public performance of the Sixth Symphony took place on 16/28 October 1893 in Saint Petersburg, at the first symphony concert of the Russian Musical Society. Pathtique Symphony No. This movement was significantly shortened (by 150 bars) in the 1879 revision, a cut which had featured more extensive development and grandeur for the (soaring) Crane. Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. So yes, this symphony is about a battle between a stubborn life-energy and an ultimately stronger force of oblivion that ends up in a terrifying exhaustion, but what makes the piece so powerful is that its about all of us, not just Tchaikovsky. The form of this symphony will have much that is new, and amongst other things, the finale will not be a noisy allegro, but on the contrary, a long drawn-out adagio. 5, 2nd Act No. You see? But the first movement doesn't need that excuse: listen to the way he conjures the return to the first tune after the storm and drama of the central section: there's a breathtaking pause for the whole orchestra, and the cellos and basses are reduced to a shocked palpitation in a harmonic limbo, before the horns steal in with an extraordinarily chromatic meditation which gradually wrenches the music back to the home key, G minor. Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky Symphony #6 "Pathtique" in B minor, Op. "All my thoughts are now taken up with a new composition (a symphony), and it's very difficult for me to break away from this work. It has also accompanied the cartoon The Ren & Stimpy Show, specifically the episode 'Son of Stimpy' where the eponymous cat walks out into a blizzard. Symphony No. The latter will be essential for playing through the arrangement, which I have also made myself" [20]. There was not the mighty, overpowering impression made by the work when it was conducted by Eduard Npravnk, on November 18, 1893, and later, wherever it was played."[11]. 6 in B minor, Op. A week later he told Aleksandr Ziloti: "I've decided to make the piano duet arrangement of the new symphony myself!!!" I don't know! Perhaps the most popular of the restrained recordings is the lushly played but interpretively bland 1960 version by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra (Sony 47657); there was more oomph in their 1937 debut (Biddulph WHL 046). Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. Nine days after conducting the premiere of the Symphony No. Tchaikovsky considered calling it (Programmnaya or "Program Symphony") but realized that would encourage curiosity about the program, which he did not want to reveal. Tchaikovsky was throwing his hat into the most public, prestigious, but risky musical arena you could imagine, competing not just with his fractious, polemicised peers but with the greats of the German symphonic canon. 74 First Movement The piece opens in E minor, with bassoons in slow time foreshadowing the main theme's rise through a minor third. Interesting Topics to Write about Composer. "the first statement of the march in C major" was probably a slip of the pen; it was actually set in E major. 74, also known as 'Pathtique', is one of the very great symphonies in the history of music. A sensation in its time, the justly famous 1938 set by Wilhelm Furtwangler and the Berlin Philharmonic (Biddulph 006) molds each phrase with subtle meaning while building the overall structure, a wondrous balance of passion and intellect, detail and architecture. That's unlikely reaction had been tepid to the first performance, which Tchaikovsky had led with his usual nervousness, but acclaim for nearly all his works was at first elusive and invariably had swiftly grown. Similar to the first movement, the turbulent climax, with timpani rolls and a descending sequence on the strings, lies in the development section (the C theme). In fact, if every composer, author, painter, or poet had died after making their greatest works about death, none of them would have been around for very long. Through a very neat modulation, we reach the key of B minor and a quicker tempo with the main theme proper, consisting of three parts: 1a. Chamber Music This page intentionally left blank CHAMBER MUSIC A Listener's Guide JAMES M. KELLER 1 2011 3 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. The first attempt to resolve the accumulation of . Saradzhev's account of this occasion was first published in Konstantin Saradzhev. I'm very pleased with its content, but dissatisfied, or rather not completely satisfied, with the instrumentation. 106-114). A halting melody emerges in the solo clarinet, shrouded in the gloom of the low strings. The sweeping third movement, which seems like a triumphant finale, is surpassed by the fourth movement, which has always been interpreted as a requiem that Tchaikovsky wrote to himself in advance since the Russian composer died only a few days after the premiere of his Symphony No. This section reaches a climax and then falls back, making way for the second subject proper. But even before his massive state funeral rumors began how could a discreet, intelligent man do such a thing? For whatever reason, the symphony seems to have been coolly received by the audience. The first of them was made on the day the full score was finished: "I urge you to ensure when writing out the parts that all the markings in the parts correspond exactly to the full score. Even when she furnished him with a villa next door, they carefully coordinated their schedules to avoid direct contact. Although he abandoned that effort, it's program is often mistaken for an outline of the Pathtique, leading to speculation that he intended the work as an autobiographical requiem in anticipation of his demise. Evgeny Mravinsky/Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra: perhaps the most unflinchingly intense recording ever made of this symphony. And yet the Sixth Symphony is about death. Kalinnikov: Symphony No. Tchaikovsky's final work was his Symphony # 6 in b minor, dubbed by his brother Modeste, with the composer's approval, as the "Pathtique" (in the sense of "pathos," not "pathetic"!). His conservative, formalist teachers, including Rubinstein, refused to endorse or perform what they saw of the symphony when it was a work-in-progress, and the progessives weren't well-disposed to Tchaikovsky's ambitions either: Cui had written a devastatingly negative review of Tchaikovky's graduation piece. Many later five-movement symphonies adopt this basic plan of an extra movement before the finale. Tchaikovsky is "widely considered the most popular Russian composer in history. 6); Programm-Symphonie (No. [22], The Pathtique has been the subject of a number of theories as to a hidden program. The composer wrote about it for the first time in a letter to his younger brother Modest and later to Nadezhda von Meck, the patron who had supported him for more than 10 years already: ". "I can honestly say that never in my life have I been so pleased with myself, so proud, or felt so fortunate to have created something as good as this"[23]. Typical of Tchaikovsky, it pulsates with doubt brimming with grace yet constantly off-balance enough to cast a pall over the otherwise elegant mood. It's hard to imagine the unresolved angst of Mahler's Sixth and Ninth, nor, indeed, the emotional void of 12-tone or aleatory music, without Tchaikovsky's bold precedent. Without the storm, the remaining movements broadly follow the traditional pattern, including Andante and Scherzo middle movements. On 6/18 July, he told Anatoly Tchaikovsky: "I will stay here [at Ukolovo] for five days and then travel to Klin. [26][27], Tchaikovsky specialist David Brown suggests that the symphony deals with the power of Fate in life and death. Even the sudden outburst in the first movement sounds like an organic logical outgrowth of the preceding material. 6, which received a restrained response.The second performance of the Pathtique, on the other hand, was a great success, and to this day this frequently performed work is an audience favorite. 6 in B minor, Op. Tchaikovsky poured his emotions into traditional structures in an edgy combination of Slavic passion and French stylistic flair, bolstered with ravishing melody and brilliant orchestration. 6," without a subtitle. [17], Back in B minor, the fourth movement is a slow movement in a six-part sonata rondo form (A-B-A-C-A-B). This short sublime movement, with a unique structure impressing one as formless in the traditional sense, does not overwhelm the symphony, but instead offers a brief moment of terror that brings into further relief the calm, peace and finally joy of the journey. [The detailed grades for each movement are: 1 = 3.5 (5 to the main theme but 2 to the sub-theme); 2 = 2; 3 = 4 (a little more rubato in a few certain places might have allowed it to get 5); 4 = 4 . It's not that it displeased, but it has caused some bewilderment. Smetana: Piano Trio, III. Thanks to the "Five", the loose group of composers (Mussorgsky, Borodin, Cui, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Balakirev), Russian musical culture was also trying to define itself as something distinctive rather than derivative, but by the mid-1860s, a truly Russian symphony was still proving elusive. MUS 1000 Pre-Concert Report Form (Preliminary Research and Listening Analysis) chamber music and piano works. No. The ultimate essence of the symphony is Life. For instance, Haydn is listed as almost entirely major. Instead, the Sixth Symphony is a vindication of Tchaikovskys powers as a composer. Thats why this symphony is a reflection of Tchaikovskys autobiography! Toward the end, he even brings in a variant of 2a while all this goes on. On the same page are two notes by the composer. As with both of the main tunes in this movement, Tchaikovsky wants to give his melodies - closed, circular objects rather than Beethovenian cells of symphonic possibility - their full. Beginning instantly with the exposition and the opening A theme, melody on the first and second violins appears frequently through the movement. The second subject, in D Major, is song-like and comes in on the strings. Considered as a world renowned pianist and. He knew this piece marked a new high-watermark in his confidence as a composer, and that he had re-invented the symphony on his own terms, and for so many composers who came after him. On 22 July/3 August 1893, he wrote to Modest Tchaikovsky: "I'm now up to my neck in the symphony. It seems reasonable to suppose that when the author referred to the "scherzo" he meant the second movement, since Tchaikovsky had worked on the third movement for around 10 days in February and March. The programme itself will be suffused with subjectivity, and not infrequently during my travels, while composing it in my head, I wept a great deal. Having recently sent the score of the Sixth Symphony to his publisher, his brother remembered I had not seen him so bright for a long time past. Tchaikovsky's final work was his Symphony # 6 in b minor, dubbed by his brother Modeste, . I told you that I had completed a Symphony which suddenly displeased me, and I tore it up. Yet, if Tchaikovsky had taken his life, why? So when youre listening to the performances below, hear instead how the cry of pain that is the climax of the first movement is a musical premonition of the inexorably descending scales of the last movement, and how the second movement makes its five-in-a-bar dance simultaneously sound like a crippled waltz and a memory of a genuinely sensual joy. back to the Introduction, 6 'Pathetique' Instrumentation Strings, 2 flutes (plus piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, timpani Movements 1. [25] Countering this is Tchaikovsky's statement on 26 September/8 October 1893 that he was in no mood to write any sort of requiem. 6 took place in October 1893, just over a week before the composer's death. In fact, this symphony was not destroyedsee the article on the unfinished. All through this movement, Tchaikovsky has been throwing in hair- raising dissonances (partly the result of the fourths, partly out . The tempo picks up slightly, and a flute and bassoon begin 2b and are quickly joined by many other instruments (I don't have the score, so I can't readily name them). "[18], Tchaikovsky dedicated the Pathtique to his nephew, Vladimir "Bob" Davydov, whom he greatly admired. Furthermore, Tchaikovsky practices a kind of musical modularity, in which 1a gets fitted with new leadins and falloffs, particularly a fanfare which consists of a leap of a fourth joined to 1a which in turn extends itself by one note upward to the third of the scale. This piece makes use of beautiful melodies, harmonies, rhythms, textures and much more that are very memorable. Both were fraught with problems. Tchaikovsky conducted the new symphony himself at the premiere, which took place in St. Petersburg in October 1893. [28] That program reads, "The ultimate essence of the symphony is Life. According to the memoirs of Konstantin Saradzhev [25], the symphony was first played through on 8/20 or 9/21 October by an orchestra of students from the Moscow Conservatory, from the classes of professors Jan Hmal, Alfred von Glenn, Nikolay Sokolovsky and others, conducted by Vasily Safonov. The same year he began an equally odd but far more suitable relationship with Nadazhda. Photograph: Bettmann/CORBIS, Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Claudio Abbado, Russia National Orchestra/Mikhail Pletnev, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/Bernard Haitink. [30]. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. [8] In 1892, Tchaikovsky wrote the following to his nephew Vladimir "Bob" Davydov: The symphony is only a work written by dint of sheer will on the part of the composer; it contains nothing that is interesting or sympathetic. The piece opens in E minor, with bassoons in slow time foreshadowing the main theme's rise through a minor third. In the Sixth, Tchaikovsky meets that inexorable descent head-on, and in so doing he creates a new shape for the symphony, in one of the most audacious and boldest compositional moves of the 19. Studied Piano at the Warsaw Conservatory. I believe it comes into being as the best of my works. All music is sublimated emotion, but Tchaikovsky pushed the envelope just enough for staid concert-goers to be genuinely thrilled without being scandalized. On 2/14 August 1893, Tchaikovsky informed Vladimir Davydov that the symphony was "coming along. . 34. On 11/23 February 1893, Tchaikovsky wrote to Vladimir Davydov: "You know I destroyed a symphony I had been composing and only partly orchestrated in the autumn [2] During my journey I had the idea for another symphony, this time with a programme, but such a programme that will remain an enigma to everyonelet them guess; the symphony shall be entitled: A Programme Symphony (No. The first movement is one of Sibelius's most highly organic compositions, and the work as a whole contains some striking foreshadowings of points in the Seventh Symphony : effects of rather cold diatonic polyphony for strings only; the simultaneous sounding of opposing harmonies in contrasted instrumental groups (e.g. [17]. In Moscow, the symphony was performed in public for the first time after the composer's death, on 4/16 December 1893, at a special symphony concert conducted by Vasily Safonov. Tchaikovsky was a life-long homosexual in a rigid society in which such behavior was harshly condemned. The first performance in Moscow was on 16 December [O.S. The orchestration of the symphony was now nearing its end: "Soon I will finish scoring the third movement of the symphony, then in two or three days more I shall set about the finale, which should not take me more than three days. And the fact that in parts of this piece, Tchaikovsky does more than simply pull off a symphonic-stylistic balancing act but manages to find a melodic and structural confidence that's completely his own, was proof that this 26-year-od symphonic tyro was already on a path to a music that was distinctively his own, yet definitively Russian. More intense but slightly less consistent is the striking 1991 conducting debut of pianist Mikhail Pletnev; if you detect a trace of abandon in their playing, it may be because his Russian National Orchestra is that country's first to be free of state support (Virgin 61636). The 6th Symphony is characterized by a mixture of conventional symphonic structure and certain tragic features. Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. The work premiered in Moscow on February 10, 1878, according to the Old Style (Julian) calendar, which was used in Russia at the time; according to the contemporary, or New Style (Gregorian), calendar . All Rights Reserved. 6 in B minor, Op. Forget, first of all, its mis-translated moniker. 1893 Peter Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6. It shouldnt even be called the Pathtique, strictly speaking, with its associations of a particularly aestheticised kind of melancholy. van Meck, a wealthy older widow who idolized him. Must be short (the finale death result of collapse). [13][14] This substitution is because it is nearly impossible in practice for a bassoonist to execute the passage at the indicated dynamic of pppppp.[12][13]. That slow, lamenting finale turns the entire symphonic paradigm on its head, and changes at a stroke the possibility of what a symphony could be: instead of ending in grand public joy, the Sixth Symphony closes with private, intimate, personal pain. Instead, in his most visionary touch of all, Tchaikovsky concludes with a slow movement that thrashes and seethes with stressful emotion before finally fading away into restless exhaustion. A calmer relative D-major segment (the B subject) builds into a full orchestral palette with brass and percussion, ending with a C major chord. Throughout all of this emotional turmoil, he continued to pour out his feelings to Madame von Meck and worked feverishly on Symphony No. The following note was made after the sketches for the second movement: "Today 24 March [O.S.] his first piece, "Polonaise" at the age of 7. He reported the same thing to Pyotr Jurgenson [21]. But all the same, the work is progressing" [13]. I want to spend all summer and autumn at Frolovskoye, and . The further I get with the scoring, the more difficult it becomes. Detractors bridled at his seeming lack of refinement but unwittingly grasped the very quality of his mass appeal in the words of conductor Leopold Stokowski, "His musical utterance comes directly from the heart and is a spontaneous expression of his innermost feeling. Its just a terrible fluke of fate that this was his last symphony, and not the beginning of what could have been his most exciting creative period as a composer. Nowhere is this schism more apparent than with Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, whose music was reviled by critics but adored by the public. The premiere of his Symphony No. That year, two things occurred that had a decisive influence on the direction his path would take. Tchaikovsky soon goes into something more nightmarish, which culminates in an explosion of despair and misery in B minor, accompanied by a strong and repetitive 4-note figure in the brass. His closest friends were so unsure about parts of the work that they did not say anything to him. Sinfonie (Wintertrume) hr-Sinfonieorchester Paavo Jrvi Watch on Far more yielding (and in vastly superior sound) had been an earlier 1940 Philadelphia Orchestra version (BMG 60312). According to the date on the manuscript, the full score was finished in its entirety on 19/31 August. Was he depressed? Began to play the piano at age 4 and composed. It consists of two parts: The orchestra gives a complete treatment to 2a. There is a surviving note by Sergey Taneyev concerning meetings with Tchaikovsky on 8/20 and 9/21 October 1893 [26]. 1 in G minor, Op. 20 quartets), then his distribution would be closer to 1:3. So far as I myself am concerned, I'm more proud of it than any of my other works" [28]. It appears that Tchaikovsky worked on the third movement between 17 February/1 March and 24 February/8 March, after which he left again. I don't know whether I wrote to you that I had prepared a symphony [7] and suddenly became disappointed and tore it up. the symphony (with which I am very pleased) and the piano concerto now I must hurry so that all this will be ready for 1 September" [9]. As in the first movement, the exposition of the last movement begins in e-minor, and the D-major sonority struggles to establish itself. Among impassioned conductors of the next generation is the nearly-forgotten Constantin Silvestri, whose 1957 Philharmonia LP bristles with surprises, including a suspenseful pause before the first-movement outburst and the slowest second movement on record. 725a). The Symphony is scored for an orchestra comprising 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in A), 2 bassoons + 4 horns (in F), 2 trumpets (in A, B-flat), 3 trombones, tuba + 3 timpani, cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam (ad lib.) 3 and the vocal quartet Night, performed by Yelizaveta Lavrovskaya's student class, but there is not a word about the Sixth Symphony. This leads to a coda in which fragments of the march are heard to a powerful conclusion. Brahms's 1877 Symphony # 3 had a slow ending, but with a tone of calm contentment.) You can, coproduction with Jurgenson of Moscow most likely; also, see. Perhaps the most controversial and unabashedly personal of all Pathtiques is by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic (DG 419 604). 14 min. First part all impulse, passion, confidence, thirst for activity. Then, the music and the F begin to fade away, and a gong quietly opens a somber funerallike chorale with the trombones and the tuba. With regard to the bowings, I intend to consult with Konyus, who is coming to see me about this in the next few days with his violin and younger brother Lev. Also widely admired for their detached styles are classic stereo accounts by Pierre Monteux and the Boston Symphony (BMG 61901), Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony (RCA LP), Igor Markevitch and the London Symphony (Philips 38335) and Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony (RCA 61246). (Haydn had concluded his 1772 Symphony # 45 ("Farewell") with a slow movement, but it was a mere gimmick appended to a standard form to symbolize his orchestra's discontent with their working conditions. the march in G major on the theme: in a solemnly triumphant manner. composer. Its French translation Pathtique is generally used in French, Spanish, English, German and other languages,[5] Many English-speaking classical musicians had, by the early 20th century, adopted an English spelling and pronunciation for Tchaikovsky's symphony, dubbing it "The Pathetic", as shorthand to differentiate it from a popular 1798 Beethoven piano sonata also known as The Pathtique. Afterwards, work was interrupted for some time, because of a concert tour by the composer in Kharkov. Tragic, for example, is the key of B minor, which is considered somber, and the motif of the falling second, which runs through the entire work like a lament. Tchaikovsky made an attempt at suicide in September. The third movement of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony was featured during the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony, being danced by Russia's national ballet company. Tchaikovsky regarded his new symphony with great affection: "I think it will be successful; it is rare for me to write anything with such love and enthralment" [22]. Fried's giddy speed (at 39 1/2 minutes the fastest on record) adds to the excitement. Example 1: Introduction of Triplet Motif in the Clarinets, Bassoon, and French Horns (Tchaikovsky 202) This triplet motif continues through varying instruments throughout the entire relative major . This same theme is the music behind "Where", a 1959 hit for Tony Williams and the Platters as well as "In Time", by Steve Lawrence in 1961, and "John O'Dreams" by Bill Caddick. Tchaikovsky takes full advantage of this in his first statement and at the same time manages to hint at the shape of his second theme (2a). 74, also known as the Pathtique Symphony, is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's final completed symphony, written between February and the end of August 1893. The official explanation was that he had made a grievous mistake. finished the rough sketches completely!!!". He died just nine days after leading the premiere of his Symphony No. As with both of the main tunes in this movement, Tchaikovsky wants to give his melodies - closed, circular objects rather than Beethovenian cells of symphonic possibility - their full expression, and at the same time create a sense of musical momentum. With these multiple pressures, and with the outside masters he felt he had to please and appease as well as his own pride and ambition, it's miraculous that this G minor symphony was completed at all. It is known that during these days he was writing the quartet Night; at the end of the manuscript of the quartet is the date: "Klin, 3 March 1893" [O.S.]. 6 in B minor, Op. Their agreement she would provide generous support but they were never to meet. Detractors quipped that he wasbeing paid by the minute, but this is a unique and fascinating vision. Also arranged for piano 4 hands by Tchaikovsky, 1893. Learn More. (So was Modeste, in whose otherwise thorough 3-volume biography not a hint of sexuality was mentioned.) Mravinsky's tightly-controlled emotion provides a fulcrum for other interpretations. [15] The opening contrasts with the darker B section in the tonic minor of the symphony, B minor. We do this symphony a terrible injustice if we only see and hear it through the murky prism of myth, story, and half-truth that now swirls around accounts of what happened in the composers final days. To take some examples from elsewhere in musical history: many of Rachmaninovs pieces are haunted by the Dies Irae plainchant, that symbolic intonation of impending fate, and yet even after writing a piece called The Isle of the Dead, he kept on living; Berliozs music too is full of intimations of mortality, but he kept going for decades after dreaming of his own execution in his Fantastic Symphony; Beethoven didnt expire after just after he faced the limits of human mortality in the Missa Solemnis; and even Mahler remained alive just after he had just crossed the border into silence at the end of his Ninth Symphony.