When Tchaikovsky was drafting his Fifth Symphony in 1888, his external triumphs as a respected composer of symphonies, operas, and ballets did nothing to temper the anguish of his ongoing health challenges, several recent deaths of loved ones, and the ever-present loneliness of being gay and closeted in a homophobic society. He left no public record of an underlying program to shape the Fifth Symphony, but the discovery in the 1950s of a journal entry offered new insights into the work’s meaning. The note laid out a form for the symphony, or at least its first two movements, with references to “complete resignation before Fate” in the introduction and “murmurs [and] doubts” in the fast portion of the first movement, followed by this question for the second movement: “Shall I throw myself in the embrace of faith?”

Through the lens of this journal entry, the Fifth Symphony can be interpreted as a treatise on fate and faith, with a musical arc venturing from dark to light in the manner of Beethoven’s Fifth. Tchaikovsky had already explored similar themes in the Fourth Symphony, with a recurring motto that represented fate, and the Fifth Symphony likewise wove an inescapable theme into all four movements.

The all-important motto theme opens the Fifth Symphony’s slow introduction, voiced in the haunting low range of the clarinets and supported by the strings. The primary theme of the Allegro con anima body of the movement resembles the motto in its repeated notes and scale fragments, but a snappy rhythm contributes new energy.

The gorgeous horn theme from the start of the slow movement may be familiar from a 1939 jazz adaptation, “Moon Love,” a staple of Glenn Miller and Chet Baker. The music becomes questioning and then imploring, capped by a brassy return of the motto.

In place of a typical symphonic scherzo, the Allegro moderato third movement begins as a kindly waltz. It gathers into a restless scherzo texture, and tendrils of that fast activity dovetail into the return of the dance music. The motto appears at the end, in a version made less severe by the waltz pulse and syncopations. The finale celebrates the arrival of the new key of E with a ceremonial introduction featuring a new version of the motto, and its climax anchors that central theme in the optimistic major key with much fanfare and pageantry.

Piccolo, three flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, strings