Fatum

Peter I. Tchaikovsky never revealed if his youthful work Fatum was based on autobiographical events – at the time he was in love with the singer Désirée Artôt.

At the first performance in 1869, the audience were confused by the discrepancy between the gloomy Konstantin N. Batyushkov verses printed in the programme and the music which was ‘more reminiscent of a battle, a violent uprising or a natural catastrophe, than a somber monologue of despair’. Although Tchaikovsky considered his composition a success, it was met with a storm of criticism, causing him to destroy the manuscript. Just three years after his death, the score was reconstructed and published by M.P. Belaieff.