Tchaikovsky, for all his populaity, has some severe critics. How do you rate him?

Not just as a great composer but as one of the greatest ever. True, he didn’t have the intellectual discipline of a J.S.Bach or the consistent inspiration of a Mozart or the structural virtues of a Beethoven. But he did have the divine gift of melody and, enchanted by those irresistible tunes, you scarcely notice the alleged failures in taste and the contrivances in development and construction.

Where does his melodic gift come from?

From a variety of folk and art sources, both Russian and Western, but the greatest lyrical inspirations seem to derive directly from his own deeply compassionate soul. A vulnerable human being himself, he was moved not only by noble aspirations in himself and in others but also by less worthy instincts and guilty passions. If you think of the highly melodious but forbidden amorous episodes in his Romeo and Juliet and Francesca da Rimini overtures you will know what I mean.

Is that in spite of his homosexuality or because of it? And does it really matter?

Whatever we know about the composer, the music remains the same. So in that sense it doesn’t matter. But if we want to understand Tchaikovsky - which is part of coming to an understanding of his music - we have to recognise that his homosexuality was fundamental to his nature and to his creativity. It inspired much of the joy and, because of the attendant guilt, much of the torment in his music.

But there must be many works which have nothing to do with it?

Yes, of course there are. Just as he tried to keep up appearances by getting married, so he wrote a whole series of works in a more or less classical, comparatively detached manner. But just as the marriage failed, so did some of those conscientious compositions, though none as comprehensively as his Piano Sonata in G. The best of them are the Serenade for Strings and the Souvenir de Florence. But it has to be said that Tchaikovsky’s attachment to Florence and other great cities abroad was attributable not only to their art treasures.

The Violin Concerto, surely, is a romantic work with no guilt in it.

That’s true. But the fact is that he was working in Switzerland on his ill-fated Piano Sonata when a former pupil of his, the violinist Josif Kotek, came to visit him. It was Kotek who stimulated the work, who got the composer to rewrite the slow movement, and who would have received the dedication but for Tchaikovsky’s fear of “gossip.”

So women played no part in Tchaikovsky’s life?

As lovers, no. But he had his favourite niece as well as his favourite nephew and strong ties with his sister and, although she died when he was only fourteen, his mother. And, of course, there was his long-term patroness Nadezhda von Meck, the wealthy widow who needed him as much as he needed her. Their reasons were different but their understanding that they should never meet was a psychological imperative for both of them.

And did he die of cholera or did he commit suicide?

There is still no agreement about this. Personally, I tend to think he killed himself, not because of the bizarre events which are said to have happened in the last few days of his life but because the Pathétique Symphony clearly tells us what he had in mind.

Gerald Larner©

further reading

Brown, D: Tchaikovsky: a biographical and critical study(Gollancz 1978-1991)

Garden, E: Tchaikovsky (Dent Master Musicians 1993)

Orlova, A: Tchaikovsky: a self-portrait (Oxford 1990)

Poznansky, A: Tchaikovsky: the quest for the inner man (Lime Tree 1993)

further listening

Violin Concerto (with Brahms Violin Concerto): Jascha Heifetz, Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Fritz Reiner (RCA 09026 61495-2)

Souvenir de Florence (with Serenade for Strings): Vienna Chamber Orchestra/Philippe Entremont (Naxos 8 550404)

Not just as a great composer but as one of the greatest ever. True, he didn’t have the intellectual discipline of a J.S.Bach or the consistent inspiration of a Mozart or the structural virtues of a Beethoven. But he did have the divine gift of melody and, enchanted by those irresistible tunes, you scarcely notice the alleged failures in taste and the contrivances in development and construction.

Where does his melodic gift come from?

From a variety of folk and art sources, both Russian and Western, but the greatest lyrical inspirations seem to derive directly from his own deeply compassionate soul. A vulnerable human being himself, he was moved not only by noble aspirations in himself and in others but also by less worthy instincts and guilty passions. If you think of the highly melodious but forbidden amorous episodes in his Romeo and Juliet and Francesca da Rimini overtures you will know what I mean.

Is that in spite of his homosexuality or because of it? And does it really matter?

Whatever we know about the composer, the music remains the same. So in that sense it doesn’t matter. But if we want to understand Tchaikovsky - which is part of coming to an understanding of his music - we have to recognise that his homosexuality was fundamental to his nature and to his creativity. It inspired much of the joy and, because of the attendant guilt, much of the torment in his music.

But there must be many works which have nothing to do with it?

Yes, of course there are. Just as he tried to keep up appearances by getting married, so he wrote a whole series of works in a more or less classical, comparatively detached manner. But just as the marriage failed, so did some of those conscientious compositions, though none as comprehensively as his Piano Sonata in G. The Serenade for Strings is an example of a sucessful score in the classical style but Tchaikovsky is nearly always at his best when he - or, in a dramatic work, his hero - is tormented by guilt, as Herman is in that most passionate of his operas, The Queen of Spades.

But the Fifth Symphony, surely, is a great work with no guilt in it?

Well, it’s certainly happier and less tortured than either the Fourth or the Sixth. But his sketches for the first movement indicate that he was seriously worried by what his private code identifies as “xxx” and that these “reproaches,” as he calls them, are a significant factor in the argument of the work. It’s just that in this case they do not loom so heavily and that they are more easily defeated by the positive impulse that usually, though not in the Pathétique, triumphs in the end.

So women played no part in Tchaikovsky’s life?

As lovers, no. But he had his favourite niece as well as his favourite nephew and strong ties with his sister and, although she died when he was only fourteen, his mother. And, of course, there was his long-term patroness Nadezhda von Meck, the wealthy widow who needed him as much as he needed her. Their reasons were different but their understanding that they should never meet was a psychological imperative for both of them.

And did he die of cholera or did he commit suicide?

There is still no agreement about this. Personally, I tend to think he killed himself, not because of accounts of the bizarre events which are said to have happened in the last few days of his life but because the Pathétique Symphony clearly tells us what he had in mind.

Gerald Larner©further reading

Brown, D: Tchaikovsky: a biographical and critical study(Gollancz 1978-1991)

Garden, E: Tchaikovsky (Dent Master Musicians 1993)

Orlova, A: Tchaikovsky: a self-portrait (Oxford 1990)

Poznansky, A: Tchaikovsky: the quest for the inner man (Lime Tree 1993)

further listening

Violin Concerto (with Brahms Violin Concerto): Jascha Heifetz, Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Fritz Reiner (RCA 09026 61495-2)

Souvenir de Florence (with Serenade for Strings): Vienna Chamber Orchestra/Philippe Entremont (Naxos 8 550404)

Symphony No.5 (with Mussorgsky Songs and Dances of Death): Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Claudio Abbado (Sony Classical SK66276)

Symphony No.6 (with Marche Slave): Russian Natonal Orchestra/Mikhail Pletnev (Virgin Classics VC7 59661-2)

the Oslo Philharmonic/Mariss Jansons recordings of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies on Chandos (CHAN8351 and CHAN8446) are also recommended

Queen of Spades (3 discs): Kirov Theatre Chorus and Orchestra/Valery Gergiev (Philips 438 141-2PH3)

Not just as a great composer but as one of the greatest ever. True, he didn’t have the intellectual discipline of a J.S.Bach or the consistent inspiration of a Mozart or the structural virtues of a Beethoven. But he did have the divine gift of melody and, enchanted by those irresistible tunes, you scarcely notice the alleged failures in taste and the contrivances in development and construction.

Where does his melodic gift come from?

From a variety of folk and art sources, both Russian and Western, but the greatest lyrical inspirations seem to derive directly from his own deeply compassionate soul. A vulnerable human being himself, he was moved not only by noble aspirations in himself and in others but also by less worthy instincts and guilty passions. If you think of the highly melodious but forbidden amorous episodes in his Romeo and Juliet and Francesca da Rimini overtures you will know what I mean.

Is that in spite of his homosexuality or because of it? And does it really matter?

Whatever we know about the composer, the music remains the same. So in that sense it doesn’t matter. But if we want to understand Tchaikovsky - which is part of coming to an understanding of his music - we have to recognise that his homosexuality was fundamental to his nature and to his creativity. It inspired much of the joy and, because of the attendant guilt, much of the torment in his music.

But there must be many works which have nothing to do with it?

Yes, of course there are. Just as he tried to keep up appearances by getting married, so he wrote a whole series of works in a more or less classical, comparatively detached manner. But just as the marriage failed, so did some of those conscientious compositions, though none as comprehensively as his Piano Sonata in G. The best of them are the Serenade for Strings and the Souvenir de Florence. But it has to be said that Tchaikovsky’s attachment to Florence and other great cities abroad was attributable not only to their art treasures.The Serenade for Strings is an example of a sucessful score in the classical style but Tchaikovsky is nearly always at his best when he - or, in a dramatic work, his hero - is tormented by guilt, as Herman is in that most passionate of his operas, The Queen of Spades.

The Violin Concerto, surely, is a romantic work with no guilt in it.

That’s true. But the fact is that he was working in Switzerland on his ill-fated Piano Sonata when a former pupil of his, the violinist Josif Kotek, came to visit him. It was Kotek who stimulated the work, who got the composer to rewrite the slow movement, and who would have received the dedication but for Tchaikovsky’s fear of “gossip.”

But the Fifth Symphony, surely, is a great work with no guilt in it?

Well, it’s certainly happier and less tortured than either the Fourth or the Sixth. But his sketches for the first movement indicate that he was seriously worried by what his private code identifies as “xxx” and that these “reproaches,” as he calls them, are a significant factor in the argument of the work. It’s just that in this case they do not loom so heavily and that they are more easily defeated by the positive impulse that usually, though not in the Pathétique, triumphs in the end.

So women played no part in Tchaikovsky’s life?

As lovers, no. But he had his favourite niece as well as his favourite nephew and strong ties with his sister and, although she died when he was only fourteen, his mother. And, of course, there was his long-term patroness Nadezhda von Meck, the wealthy widow who needed him as much as he needed her. Their reasons were different but their understanding that they should never meet was a psychological imperative for both of them.

And did he die of cholera or did he commit suicide?

There is still no agreement about this. Personally, I tend to think he killed himself, not because of accounts of the bizarre events which are said to have happened in the last few days of his life but because the Pathétique Symphony clearly tells us what he had in mind.

Gerald Larner©

further reading

Brown, D: Tchaikovsky: a biographical and critical study(Gollancz 1978-1991)

Garden, E: Tchaikovsky (Dent Master Musicians 1993)

Orlova, A: Tchaikovsky: a self-portrait (Oxford 1990)

Poznansky, A: Tchaikovsky: the quest for the inner man (Lime Tree 1993)

further listening

Violin Concerto (with Brahms Violin Concerto): Jascha Heifetz, Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Fritz Reiner (RCA 09026 61495-2)

Souvenir de Florence (with Serenade for Strings): Vienna Chamber Orchestra/Philippe Entremont (Naxos 8 550404)

Symphony No.5 (with Mussorgsky Songs and Dances of Death): Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Claudio Abbado (Sony Classical SK66276)

Symphony No.6 (with Marche Slave): Russian Natonal Orchestra/Mikhail Pletnev (Virgin Classics VC7 59661-2)

the Oslo Philharmonic/Mariss Jansons recordings of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies on Chandos (CHAN8351 and CHAN8446) are also recommended

Queen of Spades (3 discs): Kirov Theatre Chorus and Orchestra/Valery Gergiev (Philips 438 141-2PH3)