Musicians perish after performing this famous symphony

Trigger warning: death and suicide

It’s October, which means it’s time for us to dive in to another story about the bizarre side of classical music.

Today, I want to talk about a famous symphony (coincidentally written by one of my favorite composers), in which musicians die shortly after its performance.

The symphony? Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 in b minor, Op. 74 “Pathétique“

This symphony was first performed in October 1893 in St. Petersburg, with Tchaikovsky conducting. It was Tchaikovsky’s final composition before his death just nine days later. Before his death, Tchaikovsky ominously stated, “Without exaggeration, I have put my whole soul into this work.”

In one of Tchaikovsky’s final letters from August 1893, he wrote “I certainly regard it [Symphony No. 6] as quite the best – and especially the ‘most sincere’ – of all my works. I love it as I never loved any one of my musical offspring before.”

Various historical accounts have suggested that this was a musical suicide note, and perhaps the music reflects the composer’s own dark emotions as he composed it. Regardless, Tchaikovsky’s sudden death so soon after the premiere of his 6th Symphony has been a source of intrigue to musicians and musicologists.

However, the tale doesn’t stop here.

Death of Clarinetist Adds to Musical Legend

According to the Herald–Journal from January 27, 1950, a few members of the Nottingham Symphony Orchestra had passed away shortly after the group performed Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony. Gabe Cooper, the found of the orchestra “had forbidden his organization to play Tchaikovsky’s 6th because each time the group performed it, one of its musicians died.”

As the article states, the first death was around 1947, when a horn player became ill during the performance and died shortly after. In 1949, a cellist was killed in a car wreck a few days after a performance of Tchaikovsky’s 6th. Finally, clarinetist Ludwig Warcheski had a heart attack and passed away a few hours after the Nottingham Symphony performed this symphony. (Warcheski had performed with the Stockholm Symphony for 30 years.)