Tchaikovsky Dies: Music Loses Its Most Emotional Voice

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky died on November 6, 1893, nine days after conducting the premiere of his Sixth Symphony, the Pathetique, in St. Petersburg. He was 53. The officially given cause was cholera, from drinking unboiled water during an outbreak. The circumstances of his death have been debated for over a century. Born in Kamsko-Votkinsk in the Ural region on May 7, 1840, Tchaikovsky studied law at the Imperial School of Jurisprudence before enrolling at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied composition under Anton Rubinstein. He became one of the first Russian composers trained in the Western European tradition who achieved global fame. His compositions include Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and Sleeping Beauty, three ballets that essentially define the classical ballet repertoire. His 1812 Overture, with its literal cannon fire, is the most performed orchestral work at American Fourth of July celebrations. His Violin Concerto in D major and Piano Concerto No. 1 are standards of the concerto repertoire. He was gay in a society that criminalized homosexuality. His marriage to Antonina Miliukova in 1877 was a disaster; he attempted suicide within weeks by wading into the freezing Moscow River. The marriage was never consummated and they separated permanently. His emotional life was sustained by correspondence, notably with his patroness Nadezhda von Meck, who financially supported him for thirteen years on the condition that they never meet. The theory that he was forced to commit suicide by a "court of honor" convened by alumni of the School of Jurisprudence, to cover up a relationship with a male member of the aristocracy, was advanced by Russian musicologist Alexandra Orlova in 1978. It remains unproven and contested by many scholars. What is not contested is that the Pathetique's final movement, an Adagio lamentoso that fades into silence rather than ending with the customary triumphant finale, sounds in retrospect like a farewell. He had a lifetime of suppressed misery about his sexuality under Russian law and his own tortured religious conscience. The symphony ends, and then it is very quiet.