Today's Out Spotlight is one of the most popular composers in
history. He is a beloved treasure of his home country of Russia. His best-known works include the ballets "Swan Lake," "The
Sleeping Beauty," and "The Nutcracker"; the operas "The Queen of
Spades" and "Eugene Onegin"; and the widely recognized Fantasy Overture
“Romeo and Juliet" and "1812 Overture." Today's Out Spotlight is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in Votinsk, Russia, a small industrial town on May 7, 1840 . His
father was a mine inspector. His mother, who was of French and Russian
heritage, strongly influenced his education and cultural upbringing.
At age 5, Tchaikovsky began piano lessons. His parents nurtured his
musical talents, but had a different career path in mind for their son.
In 1850, the family enrolled him at the Imperial School of Jurisprudence
in St. Petersburg, where he prepared for a job in civil service.
After working in government for a few years, Tchaikovsky pursued his
passion at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. After graduation, he taught
music theory at the Moscow Conservatory and worked on new compositions.
Tchaikovsky created concertos, symphonies, ballets, chamber music, and
concert and theatrical pieces. His passionate, emotional compositions
represented a departure from traditional Russian music, and his work
became popular with Western audiences.
Despite his career success, Tchaikovsky’s personal life was filled
with crises and bouts of depression.Attract to men he After receiving letters of
admiration from a former student, Tchaikovsky married her. Historians
speculate the marriage took place to dispel rumors that Tchaikovsky was
gay. The marriage was a disaster and Tchaikovsky left his wife after
nine days.
Tchaikovsky's marital debacle may have forced him to face the full truth
about his sexuality. He never blamed Antonina for the failure of their
marriage
and he apparently never again considered matrimony or considered
himself capable of loving women in the same manner as other men. He
admitted to his brother Anatoly that there was "nothing more futile than
wanting to be anything other than what I am by nature."
[ Also, though Tchaikovsky would confess it only in periods of deep
depression, the episode left him with a deep sense of shame and guilt
and an apprehension that Antonina might fully realize and publicize his
sexual orientation.
Tchaikovsky had clear homosexual tendencies; some of the composer's closest relationships were with men.
He sought out the company of other same-sex attracted men in his circle
for extended periods, "associating openly and establishing professional
connections with them."
Relevant portions of his brother Modest's autobiography, where he tells
of the composer's sexual orientation, have been published, as have
letters previously suppressed by Soviet censors in which Tchaikovsky
openly writes of it.
Tchaikovsky began an unconventional relationship with a wealthy
widow, Nadezhda von Mek, who agreed to be his benefactor on one
condition: they were never to meet face to face. The couple exchanged
more than 1,000 letters, until von Mek abruptly ended their 13-year
liaison.
The famed composer died suddenly at age 53. The cause of his death, believed by some to be suicide, remains a mystery.
"Music’s triumphant power lies in the fact that it reveals to us beauties we find in no other sphere."
Caution the cannons are loud and my cause dogs to park.
