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Hi I'm Todd and I'm here to talk about how much I love Tchaikovsky & his music.... this is a ramble url, ok?

I've listened to Tchaikovsky for years, and my earliest memory of his music was when I was 3-4 years old during Christmas time with my grandparents. We were watching a recording of The Nutcracker on TV, watching the Nutcracker get turned back into the charming young man.

After that I started to collect nutcrackers & also starred as a dancer in a production of The Nutcracker. When I was around 10 I got more into Classical music, but it wasn't until I was 14 I fully got into it. Around 10 I had also gained an interest in Victorian period history, the same period Tchaikovsky lived in.

kind of fun facts

Tchaikovsky was a gay man, having a few male lovers whilst being married to a woman. It also seems he was more open about it to the people around him, as his brothers and close friends knew. Although his parents seemingly did not know, and he entered a lavender marriage out of pressure. He and his wife stopped living together after around 11 weeks, unable to get a permanent divorce due to how frustrating Imperial Russian laws were, ending in Tchaikovsky having a mental breakdown and creating the Opera ver. of Eugene Onegin (originally created by Aleksandr Pushkin)

Tchaikovsky was born on May 7th, 1840, in Votkinsk (Russia) and passed away on November 6th, 1893, in St. Petersburg (Russia). His death was speculated to either be due to illness or a forced suicide - as he had drank unboiled (possibly contaminated) water during a cholera outbreak. Some other theories are that he succumbed to his depression and poisoned himself with arsenic, which has similar qualities/symptoms of cholera

It was known that Tchaikovsky sometimes 'awkwardly' preformed. He had a deep fear of stage fright and also neuroses - a phobia of his head falling whilst on the conductors podium, so he would awkwardly conduct with one hand whilst holding his chin with the other. Even though the phobia lasted for years, he eventually overcame it in the early 1890s as he went on his tour in America.

There is a legitimate voice recording of Tchaikovsky's speaking Russian, but no actual recordings of him playing piano or any instrument. He thought that his works and his own playing was not good enough nor worthy enough to be recorded. Listen here!

Carrying on with Tchaikovsky's failed marriage, the woman whom had married him, beforehand, was obsessed with him. She wrote to him constantly and he never responded until he felt bad for her. He felt pity - since he was, at the time, incredibly involved with working on the Onegin opera, where the main female character (Tatiana) struggled with her love life. Seemingly he was reminded of Tatiana when he saw this women, so he ended up responding.

Tchaikovsky had a patron named Nadezhda von Meck, the two being extremely close but never ultimately meeting in person. They communicated only through letters, but did exchange portraits so they knew what one another looked like. Tchaikovsky often confided in her about his private life and struggles, while Nadezhda listened to him. Tchaikovsky was convinced their friendship would be ruined if they met physically, the illusion of their letter exchanging different. Nadezhda would holiday/vacation at the same places Tchaikovsky would, so they would be close but never truly meet. At some point they did see each other in public, but Tchaikovsky tipped his hat nervously and sped off. Eventually their friendship ended with Nadezhda saying she could not provide Tchaikovsky with financial assistance anymore, leaving him feeling a bit sour and upset that she valued their friendship so little. In reality, one of Nadezhda's children explained she was simply becoming too old to write letters but did not want to tell Tchaikovsky as to worry him.

Two times Tchaikovsky met composer Johannes Brahms, whilst Tchaikovsky detested Brahms' music and did not like it, the two got along easily and drank together. Even though they did get along well, Tchaikovsky still did not like Brahms' music.

Going abroad to America for the first time after his sisters death, a man committ suicide whilst on the ship he was on. Tchaikovsky was the only one able to read the suicide letter, as it was in German, and was told to read & translate it. When he arrived in America, the person meant to guide and pick him up didn't show, leaving him totally alone in a foreign land. Although when he arrived, many people flocked to meet him as he still was very popular. It got to a point Tchaikovsky found stressful and fled to his hotel room.

Tchaikovsky attended the first ever Bayreuth festival, spending most of the time enduring through the operas as he was not that thrilled to sit through them as he liked plays better. He spent the rest of the time socializing with other composers, like Wagner & Liszt.

He was known to have a sense of humor, at some point he was frustrated with a mail horses' reigns not being tethered correctly. In return, he wrote a letter from 'Prince Volkonsky' with the fictional title 'Master of the Czar's bedchamber'. While sending the letter, he spoke to the coachman, who told him his name was Tchaikovsky. Both of the men shared the same last name ironically.

He thought Bach was a great and wonderful composer, with equally wonderful music, but also thought he was 'boring'.

Dmitri Shostakovich (another composer) did not like Tchaikovsky as much, while Igor Stravinsky (also another composer) adored Tchaikovsky.

Tchaikovsky also adored Mozart and his music, whilst also having a long standing adoration for Schumann, thinking he was one of the best composers.

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Pub: 13 Apr 2022 21:43 UTC

Edit: 29 May 2026 13:08 UTC

Views: 891