The music of the Russian composer Tchaikovsky has come to enjoy wide popularity throughout the world. He lived at a time when composers were creating a new national form of Russian music, and this element of national inspiration he was able to combine with a sound and acceptable command of technique and particularly of colourful orchestration. His Symphony No. 6, Pathétique, was the last of his symphonies, first performed a few days before his sudden and unexpected death in 1893, which it seemed to portend. Other music consists of two dances from his opera Eugene Onegin, elements that have a poignant part to play in the drama.
