Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 1

First symphonies usually serve as stepping stones on the way to greater things. Tchaikovsky’s First was already great, written in a bold and assured manner the composer would not achieve again until his later symphonies. But even Tchaikovsky admitted the work gave him more trouble than any of his others. He revised it numerous times, and it was rejected several times, before it was finally performed almost twenty years after he began composing. With melodies that look ahead to the Waltz of the Flowers from his ballet The Nutcracker and borrowing music from his Piano Sonata in C-sharp minor, the symphony carries the subtitle Winter Daydreams.