initially, it was said that the cause was cholera, a common killer across europe during the 1800s. czar alexander iii quickly offered his sympathies, and tchaikovsky received a state funeral not long after.
however, whispers and theories swirled concerning the circumstances surrounding the composer's death before he reached his 54th birthday.
some suggested that he was afraid of his homosexuality becoming public, choosing suicide to avoid a scandal. others claimed that tchaikovsky, as ordered by the czar, drank from a cholera-infected glass as punishment for a same-sex relationship with someone from the czar's family.
rumors of poisoning spread through st.
petersburg and europe. one researcher considered these persistent murder and suicide speculations "nonsense." the premiere of the symphony called "pathetique," which tchaikovsky saw as the highlight of his work, left him feeling drained and burned out.
a researcher offered an explanation for how a well-off person could contract cholera: in the summer, pyotr tchaikovsky visited his brother anatoly, who was working to combat a cholera outbreak as deputy governor in nizhniy novgorod.
the researcher believed tchaikovsky likely became infected there.
she also disagreed with the idea that his homosexuality had no effect on his creativity. "of course, such a defining aspect of his personality would play a significant role," she stated. however, another researcher warned against reducing a genius to only their sexual preferences.
later in life, tchaikovsky was more open about his homosexuality.
researchers dismiss the notion that he was persecuted for his sexuality, as the russian upper class was quite accepting of homosexuals. it seemed there was more tolerance then than there is now in russia.
today, both conservative society and the state still express unease about the homosexuality of their most renowned composer.
even president vladimir putin commented on it in a television interview, saying, "people say tchaikovsky was homosexual."
this potential "dowry" appeared to be the immediate reason for renewing her acquaintance with the composer. both antonina and tchaikovsky testified that they "began a correspondence," leading to her proposal of marriage in early may.
analyzing antonina's surviving letters suggests that tchaikovsky himself likely initiated their meeting.
the suicide threat in her last letter before the meeting wasn't considered a serious factor in his decision. instead, it seemed like a sentimental trope borrowed from popular "letter books" containing fictional letter examples for various occasions.
the meeting occurred at antonina's rented room on the corner of tverskaya street and maly gnezdnikovsky lane in moscow.
however, tchaikovsky didn't mention this meeting in his letter to modest on the same day. instead, he explained his cooling feelings toward kotek, even attributing recent coincidences to providence: "you ask about my love?"
it's once again almost completely subdued.
and do you know why? only you can understand. because i saw his injured finger, in all its ugliness, two or three times! without that, i'd be madly in love, which returns each time i forget his crippled finger.
i don't know if this finger is for better or worse.
sometimes, i think coincidences aren't just accidents. who knows, maybe this is the start of a religiousness that will completely consume me; with lenten oil, cotton from the iveron icon, etc."
the groom's witnesses were his brother anatoly and friend iosif kotek, while the bride's were her close friends vladimir vinogradov and vladimir malama.
they were joined by priest dmitry razumovsky, a professor of church music history at the conservatory.
most biographies of tchaikovsky place the start of his relationship with antonina milyukova in early may, during the writing of his opera yevgeny onegin.
in letters to nadezhda von meck, he said an important factor in their quick intimacy and marriage was his fascination with pushkin's novel, his sympathy for the heroine, and his desire to avoid repeating onegin's cruelty towards a woman who loved him.
another factor was antonina's persistent requests for meetings, threatening suicide if he refused.
from the start of his marriage, tchaikovsky suffered greatly. he soon realized he'd made a terrible mistake.
he couldn't accept his wife's personality, character, family, or friends. after 20 days of living together, their marriage remained unconsummated. it's uncertain if tchaikovsky confessed his homosexuality to his wife or if she simply ignored it.
tchaikovsky arranged to be summoned to saint petersburg on a false errand, then traveled abroad to recover from a nervous breakdown that archival documents show was faked.
regardless, his homosexuality, combined with their psychological incompatibility, ultimately caused the marriage to fail.
this made tchaikovsky realize he couldn't achieve social and personal stability through marriage.
more importantly, his impulsive marriage helped him accept his homosexuality. no document from the rest of his life shows him tormented by his sexuality.
his occasional longing for family life is understandable for a bachelor and unrelated to his sexual orientation.
tchaikovsky's solution was to entertain passionate feelings for young men while satisfying his physical needs through anonymous encounters with lower-class individuals.
his manservant, aleksey sofronov ("alyosha"), transitioned from a bed-mate to a valued friend who eventually married with tchaikovsky's blessing but stayed in his household until the end.
at the end of his life, tchaikovsky created a fulfilling emotional environment through close family relationships and surrounding himself with admiring young men, including his beloved nephew bob davydov.
tchaikovsky attempted divorce several times between 1878 and 1881, but antonina refused, hoping for reconciliation and provoking his anger and accusations.
only in 1881 did tchaikovsky abandon the idea. he stopped paying her the promised pension, citing her erratic behavior. antonina milyukova's role in tchaikovsky's life is now seen as more complex than previously thought.
she undeniably negatively affected his psychological and physical well-being, confirmed by his letters and diaries.
tchaikovsky called his wife a "terrible wound," feeling burdened by their legal bond and fearing her potential "disclosures" about his homosexual preferences.
yet, tchaikovsky felt remorse for his perceived cruel treatment of antonina. paradoxically, the years 1877 to 1881—the most difficult period of his marital drama—were among his most creatively productive.
subsequently, tchaikovsky experienced guilt, asking his publisher, pyotr jurgenson, to locate antonina and help her financially in letters from 1884 and 1886.
tchaikovsky appreciated his wife's musical abilities, as evidenced in his letters.
however, tchaikovsky often unfairly perceived antonina's personal qualities, painting a distorted picture based on irritation with specific traits, as seen in his letters to nadezhda von meck, his brothers, and others.
despite her ruined family life and constant pain, antonina never attempted to "avenge" her husband.
on the contrary, she slightly embellished his image in her recollections: "no one in the world can accuse him of any base action." until recently, most biographers have recounted tchaikovsky's marriage superficially, biased in his favor.
antonina milyukova's recollections, presenting her side, were dismissed as the product of an insane woman and ignored.
recent archival studies have clarified key details about her origins, their acquaintance, marriage, relationship, and life after separation.
after tchaikovsky's death, antonina received a pension he left her in his will. her fate was tragic: she showed signs of emotional disorder soon after, developing a persecution mania.
by 1896, her condition worsened, and she moved to kronstadt seeking spiritual support from father john of kronstadt.
for unknown reasons, the priest refused to help. after a partial recovery, she was released from the hospital in february 1899, only to return in june 1900 with a diagnosis of paranoia chronica.
a month later, with anatoly's help, she was transferred to a more comfortable psychiatric hospital outside the city—the charitable home for the emotionally disturbed at udelnaya.
her late husband's pension paid for her room and board. antonina spent her last ten years there as a "resident" rather than a patient.
the home provided medical supervision, attentive care, and comfortable living conditions.
her grave is lost. near the end of 1876, nadezhda von meck, a wealthy railway magnate's widow, entered tchaikovsky's life. she admired his music and began commissioning pieces when she learned of his financial difficulties.
they agreed to never meet.
their unusual relationship, expressed through over 1,200 letters, lasted almost fourteen years. they met accidentally twice and hurried off without greeting each other. when mrs. von meck learned about tchaikovsky's failed marriage, she agreed to provide him with a regular allowance.
this resolved his financial issues and allowed him to focus on creative work.
tchaikovsky's relationship with nadezhda von meck, despite its eccentricities, frustrations, and gradual deterioration, was among the most rewarding experiences of his life.
their silent agreement to never meet gave their "epistolary friendship" a "platonic" character, deeply emotional and sometimes ecstatic.
for mrs. von meck, the erotic component was significant, though always neutralized by her sentimentalism.
this satisfied both parties, providing a safe outlet for their feelings by excluding any sexual expression. in her correspondence, mrs. von meck showed exceptional tact, sympathy, and understanding considering tchaikovsky's psychological traits and their era.
she may have been aware of tchaikovsky's homosexuality from the start, even vaguely, in line with victorian attitudes.
in late 1877 and early 1878, tchaikovsky and his brothers, anatoly and later modest, toured europe through switzerland, france, italy, and austria, hoping to move past tchaikovsky's disastrous marriage.
iosif kotek joined them in vienna in late november, traveling with them for a while.
by january 1878, tchaikovsky finished his fourth symphony, dedicating it secretly to nadezhda von meck. another major work during his marriage was the opera yevgeny onegin.
initially, the opera made a modest impression, achieving public acclaim after several years.
another masterpiece from this self-exile was the violin concerto, inspired by iosif kotek, but tchaikovsky initially offered the dedication to leopold auer for opportunistic reasons.
however, auer refused to play it, claiming it was too difficult, similar to tchaikovsky's first piano concerto four years prior.
in 1881, adolph brodsky played it at a vienna philharmonic society concert, where critic eduard hanslick called the music "bad smelling."
like the piano concerto no. 1, it became a success. in april 1879, tchaikovsky returned to russia, depressed about resuming teaching and lacking inspiration.
he finished smaller piano pieces, including the popular children's album. returning to moscow after visiting kamenka and mrs. von meck's estate, he resigned from the conservatory.
he then spent the next few years traveling, avoiding moscow and saint petersburg.
he went to florence, paris, and clarens, where he started the opera the maid of orleans, not one of his greatest successes.
back in russia by autumn, he began a second piano concerto. later, he traveled to rome, composing the italian capriccio.
tchaikovsky returned to his homeland, spending much of 1880 in the country. there, he completed the serenade for string orchestra and the overture the year 1812.
early in 1881, still in rome, tchaikovsky learned that the seriously ill nikolay rubinstein had gone to paris for treatment and died.
he rushed to paris to pay his respects and began working on a musical memorial, the piano trio dedicated "to the memory of a great artist."
by now, tchaikovsky's music was performed more often, thanks to nikolay rubinstein, who played and conducted a tchaikovsky program at the 1878 paris exhibition and premiered many compositions in moscow.
the main work of 1881-83 was the opera mazepa, based on pushkin's poem poltava.
during its composition, his enthusiasm waned. perhaps it was a decline in my powers, or have i become more severe in my self-judgment? mazepa was performed in moscow and saint petersburg in february 1884, but tchaikovsky left for europe without attending the saint petersburg premiere, as the opera wasn't well-received in moscow.
he'd spent only three weeks in paris before being summoned back to russia to receive an official decoration—the order of saint vladimir 4th class—from alexander iii.
by the start of 1885, the composer felt the need to settle down.
he found a manor house in maydanovo, near klin, outside moscow. it was conveniently located between moscow and saint petersburg. he settled into a routine: reading, walking in the forest, working mornings and afternoons, and playing cards or duets with friends in the evenings.
he wrote to his brother: "i am contented, cheerful, and at peace." he revised vakula the smith, re-issuing it as cherevichki, and worked on a new opera based on ippolit shpazhinsky's play the enchantress, about an innkeeper's daughter courted by two princes with disastrous consequences.
in may 1885, tchaikovsky began composing a symphonic work on lord byron's manfred for balakirev.
this task took immense effort and finished in september 1885. all autumn, he worked on the enchantress, traveling to moscow, saint petersburg, and kamenka.
at the end of the month, he visited his brothers—ippolit in taganrog and anatoly in tiflis (tbilisi).
a concert followed, with supper and a silver wreath presentation. it influenced tchaikovsky's future, marking his first successful attempt at conducting.
the work had great success, perhaps due to his presence, but stayed in the repertoire for only two seasons.
tchaikovsky considered a concert tour abroad, spending spring at maydanovo orchestrating the enchantress.
in borzhom, he received a telegram that his old friend nikolay kondratyev was dying in aachen. tchaikovsky conducted again, but the opera left audiences cold despite a personal ovation.
on the seventh night, the work was sung to a half-empty house and quickly withdrawn.
at the end of december, he started his first european concert tour as a conductor, including leipzig, berlin, prague, hamburg, paris, and london. he returned home in april to a new house in frolovskoye, near klin.
there, he began a new symphony inspired by nikolay kondratyev's death.
in november, tchaikovsky traveled to prague, conducting a successful performance of yevgeny onegin. in december, he retired to frolovskoye for six weeks to compose the ballet the sleeping beauty.
he found himself in the same hotel as brahms, gratified that brahms enjoyed his fifth symphony, except for the finale.
before london in march, tchaikovsky spent weeks in paris.
the local music society celebrated his visit with concerts of his works. the summer was spent at his country home completing the sleeping beauty. tchaikovsky spent autumn traveling between saint petersburg and moscow, conducting concerts of his works, anton rubinstein's jubilee festival, and rehearsing his new ballet at the mariinsky theatre.
the day before, alexander iii approved of the ballet at a gala rehearsal.
tchaikovsky composed the opera with enthusiasm, finishing the entire score in forty-four days.
he identified with its characters and action.
tchaikovsky wrote: "i worked on it with unbelievable ardor and excitement, experiencing everything that happens, even fearing the old dame's ghost, and i hope my authorial tumult will echo in the audience's hearts."
while confident in his art, he was modest and sensitive to feedback.
he often deprecated his work and lost interest upon completion. but not with the queen of spades. despite skepticism, he believed its music was among the finest.
posterity has proven him right. tchaikovsky spent the summer in frolovskoye, finishing his opera and composing the sextet souvenir de florence.
in the last ten years, the pathos and enthusiasm in his letters with nadezhda von meck diminished.
her financial assistance continued, but they treated the situation matter-of-factly. their correspondence remained intellectually high, ranging from discussions to confessions.
however, in september, mrs.
von meck informed him she was ruined and unable to continue his allowance or correspondence. this news deeply wounded and depressed him.
tchaikovsky accepted an invitation to conduct his works in america for the opening of carnegie hall. the success of the concert was marred by news of his sister aleksandra's death in a french newspaper.
he continued his american tour, keeping a diary.
tchaikovsky conducted six concerts: four in new york, one in baltimore, and one in philadelphia.
he visited niagara falls, impressed by the hospitality and enthusiastic reception of his music. back home, tchaikovsky composed the ballet the nutcracker.
additionally, he orchestrated the symphonic ballad the voyevoda.
while the opera succeeded, tchaikovsky disliked the voyevoda and tore up the score, reconstructed after his death.
at the end of 1892, tchaikovsky embarked on a new tour, calling at kiev and warsaw before germany. from warsaw, he went to hamburg via berlin for a new production of yevgeny onegin, conducted by gustav mahler.
homesickness afflicted tchaikovsky when leaving russia, and he abandoned a concert in holland, going to paris before heading home.
this time, he found a bigger house outside town, near the petersburg highway, surrounded by fields and woods. in may, tchaikovsky began a symphony in e-flat major, but the sketches didn't satisfy him.
almost a year later, they were used for the third piano concerto and the andante and finale for piano and orchestra, completed by taneyev after his death.
while touring switzerland, tchaikovsky agreed to conduct at the law society of rouen, but learned the performance was in a restaurant by a scratch orchestra, and left.
his old friend anton door, who hadn't seen him since the 1870s, found him older. from vienna, he traveled to itter castle as sophie menter's guest and then to prague for the queen of spades' premiere.
the emperor was cordial, but iolanta's music didn't appeal to the public.
the nutcracker proved more fortunate. he wrote to his brother nikolay: "the past rose so vividly that i seemed to breathe the air of votkinsk and hear our mother's voice."
tchaikovsky spent his last days in paris and brussels, conducting concerts, supervising the queen of spades, and attending banquets.
he worked so vigorously that the first movement was complete in a week.
a crowd gathered at the train station to greet him. the concert response surpassed expectations: the audience lifted him to his coach. he finished the finale first and then the second movement, completing the sketches in five days.
in may, he traveled to saint petersburg, moscow, and nizhny novgorod, visiting his brother anatoly.
during visits to the capital, meetings with nikolay rimsky-korsakov and younger composers grew frequent. the london philharmonic society intended to have foreign composers conduct their works at cambridge.
tchaikovsky directed the first english performance of francesca da rimini and attended a "gala dinner and still more gala receptions".
the next day, he received an honorary doctorate. a few days later, he traveled to the tyrol with sophie menter.
while abroad, he received news from moscow and saint petersburg: karl albrecht and konstantin shilovsky had died, vladimir shilovsky also died, and similar news was expected regarding aleksey apukhtin and nikolay zverev.
upon his return, he visited anatoly and family in nizhny novgorod.
in september, he worked on his third piano concerto and considered a new opera. his concert season calendar was full.
he considered invitations from odessa, kharkov, warsaw, frankfurt am main, and elsewhere. he planned to leave for a concert at the russian music society in moscow, temporarily staying in his brother modest's apartment with their nephew bob davydov.
this apartment, on the corner of malaya morskaya and gorokhovaya streets, had been rented weeks before his arrival.
the first week was spent in orchestral rehearsals and helping his brother and nephew settle in.
the days after the premiere involved visiting relatives, conducting business, and attending theaters and restaurants. by morning, his condition worsened, but it was taken as his usual "indisposition."
but this time, self-medication failed.
modest tchaikovsky summoned doctor vasily bertenson, who believed the condition dangerous with symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting, weakness, chest and abdominal pains. the doctor turned for help to his more experienced brother, lev bertenson.
lev bertenson diagnosed asiatic cholera, in its severe stage.
by 11 pm, the patient's life was in danger: he began to experience spasms, his head and extremities turned dark blue, and his temperature fell.
throughout the night, the doctor massaged his body and injected musk and camphor. the police were informed of the illness that morning.
an announcement of tchaikovsky's cholera appeared in st.
petersburg newspapers. vasily bertenson was replaced by aleksandr zander and nikolay mamonov.
they took turns at the patient's bed between visits from lev bertenson, concerned about kidney function. the doctor hesitated to immerse the patient in a hot bath.
the composer and his family feared this treatment, stemming from his mother's death from cholera during a bath.
the inactivity of his kidneys resulted in blood poisoning by elements of urine trapped in his organism.
furthermore, his intestines became paralyzed. even belated treatment had no effect. throughout the day, tchaikovsky repeatedly lost consciousness and succumbed to delirium; towards evening his pulse weakened and his breathing became inhibited.
after ten o'clock, the patient's state was declared hopeless.
almost without attaining consciousness, the composer passed away at fifteen minutes after three o'clock in the morning on october 25 (november 6).
present during his final moments were his brothers modest and nikolay tchaikovsky, his nephew vladimir davydov, and doctor nikolay mamonov.
the body lay in state at the apartment, with disinfection measures.
ten years later, nikolay rimsky-korsakov forgot the precautions and disinfection, recalling in his memoirs that it was odd that verzbilovich and others were allowed to kiss tchaikovsky's body.
throughout the day, visitors increased, and two memorial services were held.
after nine o'clock, the coffin was closed. during this time, hundreds of people came to bid farewell, wreaths were laid, and more memorial services were given.
the papers published reports on tchaikovsky's illness, interviews, and commiserating telegrams.
the public reaction found expression in accusations against the doctors.
the fact that he fell ill with cholera was not surprising, given the epidemic. the question was where he contracted it—at leiner's restaurant or at home—since he reportedly drank unboiled water at both places.
but this question was secondary, even considering the criticism of restaurant procedures.
the composer's recklessness was evident, and he wasn't alone in ignoring hygiene.
the treatment was another matter. responsibility fell on the doctors, who became the targets of outrage over the composer's death. lev bertenson and his assistants were accused of incompetence specifically a lack of experience, the belated use of the bath, and ignorance of modern treatments.
modest tchaikovsky defended the doctors, describing the illness's progression and stating that everything possible had been done and that the family had no grievance.
he expressed gratitude for their "sincere and irreproachably thorough treatment." stunned by the tragedy, the public was sensitive to the symphony's "funereal" moods. the slow adagio finale struck many as a premonition of death.
listeners gained the impression that tchaikovsky had written a "requiem" for himself.
rumors of "self-poisoning" were heard.
however, no suggestion that tchaikovsky's death was caused by intentional poisoning was found in the newspapers of 1893 or for decades after. grief at the loss was exacerbated by its untimeliness: tchaikovsky went to his grave full of plans, at the height of his glory.
naturally, the causes of his death became the subject of attention.
details were recounted in the press, elaborated upon in oral rumor, and reflected in memoirs.
but conflicting accounts led to ridiculous rumors. some became rooted as the "ultimate truth" concealed by tchaikovsky's relatives, the tsarist regime, and the soviet government.
recent studies reconstruct tchaikovsky's last days with accuracy and show the origin and baselessness of "sensational" conjectures.
versions of his voluntary departure became persistent.
they can be classified into two main trends. firstly, "concealed suicide" stories, where tchaikovsky intentionally sought death, drinking unboiled water and delaying doctors.
secondly, the "forced suicide" theory, where, under threat of scandal due to homosexual contacts, tchaikovsky saved his and his family's honor by taking slow-acting poison.
one popular story is that alexander iii himself ordered the suicide.
in the 1970s, another version claimed the composer fell victim to a "court of honor" conducted by classmates, who sentenced him to death at his own hands.
this version is based on hearsay, sanctioned by a scholarly interpretation and publicized in a music journal. the author's conclusions moved the question of tchaikovsky's death from gossip to mainstream press, stimulating discussion and studies.
since the new version coincided with arguments for suicide—a fear of his habit being revealed—scholars analyzed the testimony and reviewed questions about tchaikovsky's death.
recent studies suggest that scandal was unlikely due to his high social standing and tolerance towards homosexuality in court circles.
the idea of poison mimicking cholera symptoms was imaginary. nikolay blinov shed light on the medical aspect.
analyzing ideas of cholera in russia before 1917, blinov established that tchaikovsky's doctors acted in accordance with the recommendations of the day.
they saved him from cholera on the first night.
but treatment was begun late, and the doctors couldn't protect the patient from complications. he could only have been saved by modern medical treatments. that none of the relatives were infected proves the efficacy of these measures.
regarding a "conspiracy" to conceal self-poisoning, blinov studied the doctors' biographies and medical ethics, concluding that it would have been unthinkable for them.
a study of publications and memoirs explains the factual contradictions.
the media agitation created inaccuracies. the psychological motives of those close to tchaikovsky led them to distort the truth to lend weight to their role.
the rumors about "imperial wrath" were lurid fiction. alexander iii revered the composer, and the family attended his operas, buying new editions of his music.
tchaikovsky's merits were appreciated: he was awarded the order of saint vladimir and a pension, and received a ring from the emperor.
he issued a resolution to organize a state funeral at his expense.
it is impossible that these acts could have been bestowed on a man who had fallen into royal disfavour. documents found in recent years present evidence against the suicide theories, while no evidence supporting them has been discovered.
tchaikovsky's brother nikolay noted: "three doctors treated his cholera." in 1904, vladimir davydov recalled: "after all, uncle pyotr had terrible problems with his stomach, which by the time i knew him was obviously weaker, but which reached an extreme state and finally served as the breeding-ground of his fatal disease."
these testimonies from the tchaikovsky museum end the old rumors and fantasies generated by proponents of an "unnatural" death theory.
an inquiry into an artist's personality is imperative to enrich our appreciation, allowing us to respond to the issues involved in the creative process.
in tchaikovsky's case, his inner longings had a bearing on his music's emotional poignancy.
tchaikovsky research.