Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony in E-flat was commenced after Symphony No. 5, and was intended initially to be the composer's next (i.e. sixth) symphony. Tchaikovsky abandoned this work in 1892, only to reuse the first movement in the single-movement Third Piano Concerto, Op. 75, first performed and published after his death in 1895. Two other movements were reworked for piano and orchestra by Sergei Taneyev as the Andante and Finale, which was published as Tchaikovsky's Op. posth. 79 in 1897.
Between 1951 and 1955, Soviet composer Semyon Bogatyrev reconstructed the symphony from Tchaikovsky's sketches and various re-workings. This version was premiered on February 7, 1957, in Moscow by the Moscow Region Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mikhail Terian, and was published by the State Music Publishers in Moscow in 1961. It was first recorded by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy in 1962, soon after they gave the U.S. premiere of the work (February 16, 1962).