Suite No. 4, Op. 61 "Mozartiana"

The suite unfolds as four contrasting portraits, each drawn from a separate, mostly obscure Mozart work.

I. Gigue opens briskly, a quick dancing romp based on a short Mozart piano piece, over almost before it begins.

II. Minuet follows, a stately, courtly dance in triple meter, its elegance colored by Tchaikovsky's fuller string and wind writing compared to Mozart's simpler original.

III. Preghiera, meaning prayer, slows the pace considerably, drawing on a piece Mozart based on his own choral writing, here made hushed and reverent, with a solemn, hymn-like quality.

IV. Theme and variations closes the suite, taking a Mozart tune and passing it through a series of transformations, each variation changing the melody's speed, mood, or instrumental color while keeping the tune recognizable underneath. Listeners can follow the original melody as it returns in different guises, sometimes delicate, sometimes bold, before the suite ends with a confident, festive close. Throughout, the pleasure lies in hearing two composers at once: Mozart's clarity and tunefulness inside Tchaikovsky's richer, more romantic orchestral dress.

By the mid-1880s Tchaikovsky had long idolized Mozart, whom he considered music's supreme genius. In 1887, for the centenary of Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni," he orchestrated four little-known Mozart keyboard and vocal pieces, dressing them in his own rich orchestral colors rather than composing new melodies. He led the premiere himself in Moscow that year. He called the result "Mozartiana," offering it as a gift meant to draw modern audiences toward music he feared was being overlooked. It has remained the most performed of his four orchestral suites, valued less for originality than for the warmth of the tribute and the craftsmanship of the arranging.