Vanya sat on the couch, smoking his pipe
Those are the words to an old Russian folk song. Tchaikovsky heard a carpenter whistling the tune, and not long after that, it showed up in his String Quartet Number 1. The St. Petersburg String Quartet hails from Tchaikovsky's home town of St. Petersburg, Russia. They give a terrific performance of the string quartet, Vanya and all, on tour in New York City.