This is a work written in 1894, not long after the death of one of Glazunov's idols, Pyotr Illych Tchaikovsky. It is difficult not to read Glazunov's emotional turmoil following this shocking event: The death was so unexpected (it was officially ascribed to the foolhardy drinking of untreated water resulting in cholera) that various rumors of suicide arose, although there is no reliable evidence of it. Moreover, death struck the great composer down just a week after one of his artistic triumphs, the premiere of his Sixth Symphony (Pathétique, the greatness of which was recognized by musicians at the same time its unusual form puzzled the audience.

If this Fantaisie is related to Glazunov's feelings about Tchaikovsky's death, it clearly represents the process of surmounting feelings of grief. It opens in a very gloomy b minor, which happens to be the same key as that of the Pathétique symphony. However, as the end of the eleven-minute orchestral work approaches, the music is transfigured as it moves unexpectedly into the bright and optimistic key of C Major. Resisting the convention that a work ends in the same tonality in which it began, the music doesn't even go back to B Major, concludes in the more brilliant key of C.

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