There is so much to delight and wonder about Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony, titled “Pathètique.” He considered it his best work. And there’s the great fun of the exuberant 3rd movement false ending that often prompts audiences to burst into spontaneous applause (but that’s not the end of the symphony!). And just nine days after Tchaikovsky conducted the premiere, he was dead. Many agree that with its slow and long fade out of the final movement, the symphony is a reflection on death, but is the symphony a premonition of HIS OWN death? And just how did he die? Was it suicide? Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” Symphony No. 6 is today’s Midday Masterpiece.