Piano Sonata in C-sharp minor (Tchaikovsky) explained

The Piano Sonata in C-sharp minor, Op. posth. 80, was written by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1865, his last year as a student at the St Petersburg Conservatory. The sonata in its original form was not published in Tchaikovsky's lifetime; it was published in 1900 by P. Jurgenson, and given the posthumous opus number 80.^[1]

Tchaikovsky transposed, adapted and orchestrated the third movement of the sonata to create the scherzo of his Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 13.

Movements

1. Allegro con fuoco (C-sharp minor)
2. Andante (A major)
3. Allegro vivo (C-sharp minor)
4. Allegro vivo (C-sharp minor)

The sonata ends in the tonic major, in the enharmonic spelling of D-flat major.^[2]

References

• Tchaikovsky Research

Notes and References

1. See Tchaikovsky Research.
2. IMSLP.