Tchaikovsky’s “Autumn Song” (October) from “The Seasons”: Olga Scheps
In 1876, while completing the ballet score for Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky composed The Seasons, a series of atmospheric tone paintings for solo piano. Commissioned by the publisher, Nikolay Bernard, the brief pieces were published on the first day of each month in the St. Petersburg music journal, Nuvellist. Set in D minor, Tchaikovsky’s October submission, Autumn Song, is quiet and melancholy. It accompanies a poem by Tolstoy which describes yellow windswept leaves. The interpretive marking is …