Old Style and New Style dates
The composition took place between 4/16 May and 27 May/8 June 1878 (see Old Style and New Style dates). The manuscript was sent to his publisher Pyotr Jurgenson in July; this is confirmed by a letter to von Meck in the same month, where Tchaikovsky wrote that he was "happy in the consciousness of having finished a work... Now I can indulge in full my secret delight in doing nothing." It appeared in print early in 1879.