Wednesday, April 29, 2020

COMPOSER OF THE WEEK: 8. Pyotr Tchaikovsky


Born: May 7, 1840; Votkinsk, Russia
Died: November 6, 1893; Saint Petersburg, Russia
Nationality: Russia

Pyotr Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer of the Romantic period, born on May 7, 1840, and died on November 6, 1893. Tchaikovsky, who showed great musical talent as a child, entered the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1865. However, the Western-oriented music education received there resulted in him away from the nationalist music embodied by the Russian composers of The Five.

Tchaikovsky's birthplace in Votkinsk, now a museum

He achieved many successes, but suffered personal crises and depression throughout his life. The important factors that influenced his such life were his early separation from his mother to attend boarding school, his mother's early death, the death of his close friend and colleague, Nikolai Rubinstein, and the conflict with the wealthy widow, Nadezhda von Meck who was his patron, and his homosexuality.

Tchaikovsky as a student at the Moscow Conservatory (1863)

Tchaikovsky died in Saint Petersburg at the age of 53 on November 6, 1893, nine days after the premiere of his Sixth Symphony, the Pathétique. He was interred in Tikhvin Cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, near the graves of fellow-composers Alexander Borodin, Mikhail Glinka, and Modest Mussorgsky. The official cause of his death was cholera, which was believed to have been infected by drinking contaminated water a few days before his death, but many questions were raised about this diagnosis. These questions include that a famous restaurant that was operating under strict health care regulations, in the midst of a cholera epidemic, gave Tchaikovsky an unboiled water, and the timeline, when he drank the water and cholera symptom appeared. 

Anton (right) and Nikolai Rubinstein

Nadezhda von Meck

At the time, cholera attacked people of all levels of Russian society, but the disease was considered a disease of the lower classes. Therefore, the announcement that a famous person such as Tchaikovsky died of cholera caused great confusion in society. In addition, the accuracy of the medical reports of the two doctors who had treated Tchaikovsky was also questioned, and his corpse was also found not to have been processed according to official regulations dealing with victims who died of cholera. It has been mentioned by many, including the autobiography of composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, but in some sources it has been censored and deleted.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's grave

After that, the theory that Tchaikovsky's death was a suicide began to emerge. From his family to composer Alexander Glazunov, many people have made various postulations, including from his reckless act to the order from Tsar Alexander III of Russia. Then, since 1979, a grounded suicide theory was added. It was that his college alumni criticized Tchaikovsky's homosexuality and sentenced him to suicide in court. 

Tsar Alexander III

Nonetheless, the cause of Tchaikovsky's death remains highly controversial and may not actually be resolved.

Thank you.

Statue of Tchaikovsky in Simferopol, Crimea



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