Tchaikovsky's Valse sentimentale, the last of his Six morceaux (Six Pieces), for piano, Op. 51, was composed in 1882, during a very difficult period in the composer's life. From the late 1870s until 1885, the composer felt restless, somewhat disoriented, and unsure of his creative powers. As a result, he led a nomadic existence, constantly traveling, without a home he could call his own. Composed in the summer of 1882, at a cottage near Kamenka, where Tchaikovsky was able to work in peace, the Six morceaux are charming, intimate miniatures—all dedicated to women. The Valse sentimentale, despite its title, strikes the listener as quite sincere and open, suggesting an atmosphere of tranquil truthfulness. If the composer is speaking to a woman in this composition, his opening statement, reminiscent, but only superficially, of a waltz by Chopin, seems almost nonchalant in its impatient directness. However, the inner, deeper movement of the composition, which surfaces during a deceptively calmer middle section, reveals that characteristic complex of melancholy, strong (and sometimes ambivalent) feelings, introspection, and vague nostalgia that defines, in part at least, the distinctive quality of Tchaikovsky's music for solo piano.



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