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Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony and Spohr's 4th Symphony

There seem to me to be some striking similarities in these two symphonies. Does anyone know whether Tchaikovsky knew the earlier work?

Thank you,

Fiona Dancy


Hello,

Similarities you mentioned, I think, mean the third movement of Spohr's Fourth Symphony is march and the fourth movement is funeral music. However I think the two Symphonies are quite different. Pyotr Ilyich knew Lois Spohr's music, but did not like his music as much as Brahms'. Pyotr Ilyich was absolutely not inspired by Spohr. The main theme in fourth movement of Pyotr Ilyich's Sixth Symphony was derived from the theme in the second movement of Beethoven's Third Symphony (funeral march: mi-mi-mi^la_♯so^la^ti^do_la^"mi_re_do_ti_la^do_ti") and the theme of Russian folksong "In the Field Stood a Birch Tree" ("mi-mi-mi-mi_re_do-do_ti_la") in his own Fourth Symphony.

Best regards,

Kamomeno Iwao


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