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
No comments:
Post a Comment