Paganini's Caprice No. 24: Advanced Violinists Only

What’s the caprice anyway? 24 is number of the last caprice in Paganini’s set of 24 works for solo violin. All of those were composed in the period between 1802 and 1817 and are created in the form of etudes. Each of them was aimed at training an exact skill of a performer, be it fast switching of strings or other.

Each of the caprices had a certain dedication, most;y to famous musicians like, for example, Louis Spohr or Franz Liszt or Antonio Bazzini, among others.

As for the final caprice (24th), it became Paganini’s dedication to his own self. Or to be more precise, “to my self, regrettably buried”, according to the author. Up to now, No. 24 is considered to be one of the most technically difficult pieces for advanced violin performers only. A performer like should be skillful enough to rapidly shift the scales, possess the parallel octaves technique, left-hand pizzicato and not only.

Now look at one of the really good examples of such a gifted performance of this work. Below is Hilary Hahn's brilliant interpretation:

Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.6 From the Inside

In 1893, the great Russian composer Petr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's completed his Symphony No.6 that is commonly known as 'Pathétique'. So why was it ‘pathetic’ anyway?

Petr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

First of all, the symphony became composer’s last work. Petr Ilyich dies just 9 days after it was finally created. Luckily, within this short period of time, Saint Petersburg saw the premiere of the soon-to-become famous music work. This is another peculiarity, as a situation like this is a rare thing in the history of music. Too many outstanding composers never lived to the acclaim or even premier of their masterpieces. Moreover, Tchaikovsky not only saw it but took part in it – he led the first performance himself.

Another explanation of the ‘pathetic’ title for the symphony could lie in its music mood. It is well-known that Tchaikovsky frequently suffered from depression which could not but pour into some of his music compositions. The start of the work on the No.6 was not quite successful and the desperate composer tore up his draft manuscripts a few times.

The Symphony Pathétique as we know and love it today slightly differs from the one people listened to on the day of its premier. Right after the performance Tchaikovsky made a few more corrections in the score. Despite all the hardships on the way to creating that masterpiece, Tchaikovsky realized that it was to become one of his most decent works in a lifetime, he even mentioned in the letter to his brother.
The Russian title of the piece does not put any accent on the depressive mood of the work, however, musicologists agree on No. 6 being composer’s sort of a ‘suicidal note’.

Loved the video of the symphony performed in a 360-degree mode. How lovely it feels to ‘be part’ of the performance of such an important work!