Before starting work on Symphony No. 6, on the first page the composer wrote, “Help me, God,” and on the last page — “Lord, thank you! On this day, I completed the rough sketch.”

The sketches for Symphony No. 6 were finished by Tchaikovsky between February to March 1893 in Klin. His work was interrupted twice: in March — for nine days, in connection with the composer’s concerts scheduled earlier for March 7 and 14, and then in May — as he had to go to London to receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Music from Cambridge University.

In 1893, the composer traveled a lot: he was in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv, Odessa, Kharkiv, Nizhny Novgorod, Kamenka, Grankino, Ukolovo, and Klin. He also visited Brussels, Montbéliard, and then Paris, London, Cambridge, Itter, and Hamburg.

The music critic Nikolay Kashkin wrote, “The last part ends with surprisingly strong, gloomy pianissimo. In its form and character, this is the only finale of this kind in all symphonic music, no one has ever dared to end a symphony with such an otherworldly cry; it is only slightly similar to the ending of a piano trio by the same composer.”