Born: Votkinsk, Viatka district, May 7, 1840 Died: St. Petersburg, November 6, 1893 . combat miming criticism. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky died at 3:15 in the morning on October 25 (November 6 by new calendar), 1893. Dr John Henry of Guy's Hospital, an expert witness working in the British National Poison Unit at the time, concluded in the documentary that all the reported symptoms of Tchaikovsky's illness "fit very closely with arsenic poisoning." [1], The next morning, at Modest's apartment, Pyotr was not in the sitting room drinking tea as usual, but in bed complaining of diarrhea and an upset stomach. He'd fallen in love with Vladimir Davydov. At the end of that time, Tchaikovsky rushed out, pale and agitated, without saying a word. [14], Biographer Anthony Holden writes that cholera had arrived in Europe less than a century before Tchaikovsky's death. Hating the post, he turned to music and studied at the newly founded music school in St. Petersburg. He died at 3 a.m. on 6 November 1893.[2]. This was three weeks to the day after the composer had led the première in the same hall, before much the same audience. "[42] More recently the French scholar André Lischke has confirmed Glazunov's confession. [54] Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, who attended both performances, attributed the public's change in opinion to "the composer's sudden death ... stories about his presentiments of approaching demise (to which mankind is so prone), and a tendency to link these presentiments with the gloomy mood of the last movement of this splendid ... famed, even fashionable work. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky died on November 6 (October 25 Old Style), 1893. Music Analysis. - Classic FM. I heard voices from another room, and on entering I saw Pyotr Ilyich in a black morning coat stretched on a sofa. [16], Holden adds that, according to contemporary Russian medical records, the specific epidemic which claimed Tchaikovsky's life began on 14 May 1892 and ended on 11 February 1896. He was powerfully impressed by a performance of Georges Bizet’s Carmen at the Opéra-Comique in Paris; in contrast, the production of Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle, which he attended in Bayreuth, Germany, during the summer of 1876, left him cold. The discussion was rekindled after the publication of Alexandra Orlova’s paper "Tchaikovsky: The Last Chapter" in Music & Letters 62 (1981) 125-145, and flared up again when several studies were … The plausibility of this story for many people was that Glazunov reportedly confirmed it. She had been impressed by Tchaikovsky’s The Tempest and had asked Rubinstein at length about the composer. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Tour Map with Places to Visit ... Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Art: Prints, Paintings, Posters ... Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Biography, Music & Death | Study.com. [43], However, Poznansky counters, Glazunov could not have confirmed the suicide story unless he were absolutely certain of its truth. The only way that could have been possible, though, was if he had been told by someone in Tchaikovsky's innermost circle—in other words, someone who was present at the composer's deathbed. The compose Aleksandr Serov was disappointing, commenting, "No, the cantata is not good. Brown suggests that perhaps it is significant that Modest records his brother's last days from that evening, when Tchaikovsky attended Anton Rubinstein's opera Die Maccabäer. Light-classical. Weeks after the composer's passing, both the Neva River and the water supply of the Winter Palace were found to be contaminated, and a special sanitary commission discovered that some restaurants mixed boiled and unboiled water to cool it more quickly for patrons. [11] Moreover, Alexander III gave special permission for Tchaikovsky's memorial service to be held at Kazan Cathedral. Postulations ranged from reckless action on the composer's part to orders from Tsar Alexander III of Russia, with the reporters ranging from Tchaikovsky's family members to composer Alexander Glazunov. How did Tchaikovsky die? Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. A doctor was finally sent for but he was not home so another one was called. Tchaikovsky himself conducted the premiere of his Symphony No.6 in St. Petersburg, Russia, on the 16th of October, 1893. asked a reporter for the Petersburg Gazette. Mooser considered Glazunov a reliable witness, stressing his "upright moral character, veneration for the composer and friendship with Tchaikovsky. Find out more here. "His tormented life, as we currently understand it: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born May 7, 1840, in Votkinsk, Russia. His childhood was miserable. What is Tchaikovsky famous for? Rimsky-Korsakov and the singer Nikolay Figner were arranging a table to put him on. His grandfather, Petro Fedorovych Chaika, received medical training in Saint Petersburg and served as a physician’s assistant in the army before becoming city governor of Glazov i… The mixed reaction of the audience, however, did not affect the composer’s belief that the symphony belonged among his best work. The alkaline in the mineral water would have neutralised the acid in Tchaikovsky's stomach. [25] Holden also questions whether Lev Bertenson's description of Tchaikovsky's condition came from his observation of the patient or from what he had once read. Aspects on sexuality and structure in the later symphonies of Tchaikovsky. Orlova, 128, footnote 12. As quoted in Holden, 387. The work was spurred by a visit from the violinist Iosif Kotek, who had been asking Tchaikovsky for a violin concerto for some time. Death from cholera was the official version endorsed by doctors in St Petersburg after the composer's demise on November 6, 1893, and repeated by … [38], In November 1993 the BBC aired a documentary entitled Pride or Prejudice, which investigated various theories regarding Tchaikovsky's death. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in Votkinsk, a small town in present-day Udmurtia, formerly province of Vyatka in the Russian Empire, to a family with a long line of military service. [26] It was also well known that Tchaikovsky preferred to drink mineral water. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Years of fame: At the very end of 1875, Tchaikovsky left Russia to travel in Europe. Nadezhda von Meck. Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images. November 6, 1893 Who was Tchaikovsky influenced by? He died less than one week after premiering what is considered to be his greatest work, Symphony Pathetique. Was he murdered? Aspects on sexuality and structure in the later symphonies of Tchaikovsky. That Glazunov would then share this information with Mooser, Poznansky concludes, is virtually inconceivable since it would have compromised Glazunov entirely. Turgenev and Tchaikovsky (with music samples) *** Love-Letters from Tchaikovsky to his Nephew Bob Davidov; How Did Tchaikovsky Really Die? As quoted in Holden, Anthony. When did Van Cliburn win the Tchaikovsky competition? Within a day or two of this meeting, news of the composer's illness was circulating in St. Tchaikovsky was a precocious child that learned to read French and German at … [9], Alexander III volunteered to pay the costs of the composer's funeral himself and instructed the Directorate of the Imperial Theatres to organise the event. His kidneys began to fail. [21] In the hope of avoiding doctors, Laroche writes, "he relied above all on hygiene, of which he seemed (to my layman's view) to be a true master". Rumor attached to the famous die hard ... As for illness, problems of evidence offer little hope of satisfactory resolution: the state of diagnosis; the confusion of witnesses; disregard of long-term effects of smoking and alcohol. [12], Tchaikovsky's funeral took place on 9 November 1893 in St. Petersburg. His great-grandfather was an 18th-c… As cited in Norton, Rictor, "Gay Love-Letters from Tchaikovsky to his Nephew Bob Davidof", The Great Queens of History, 19 October 2002, updated 5 November 2005 <. )[10] With the added precaution of constant disinfectant of the lips and nostrils of the body, Poznansky claims, even the drunken cellist kissing the face of the deceased had little cause for worry. Henry, Dr. John, "Pride or Prejudice?" As quoted in Buckle, Richard. Newspaper reporters were not the only ones questioning these accounts. [19] Though these figures were taken from Novosti i Birzhevaya Gazeta, Poznansky challenges them as inaccurate. 3 May 2018, 05:00 | Updated: 18 February 2020, 11:11 . While cholera actually attacked all levels of Russian society, it was considered a disease of the lower classes. While cholera touched all levels of society, it was largely considered a disease of the poor. [35] While Holden admits no further evidence supports this theory, he asserts that had it actually been the case, Tchaikovsky and Modest would have both gone to great pains to conceal the truth. In the United States, the San Francisco Ballet performed it first in 1944. [29] Tchaikovsky reportedly started showing symptoms early Thursday morning. If the latter, it would mean he could have used the terminology in the wrong sequence in describing Tchaikovsky's diagnosis. Certainly, we used to see Piotr Ilyitch eating there almost every day, but nobody at that time drank unboiled water, and it seemed inconceivable to us that Tchaikovsky should have done so". He was just 53 years old. People love a mystery. 25 October],[a 1] nine days after the premiere of his Sixth Symphony, the Pathétique, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky died in Saint Petersburg, at the age of 53. The diagnosis of cholera was finally made by Dr. Lev Bertenson. Rumours circulated that his death was a suicide, and they were revived in the late 20th century by some of his biographers, but these allegations cannot be supported by documentary evidence. Three days later, he was suffering from full blown cholera. His father, Ilya Petrovich Tchaikovsky, was an engineer who served as a lieutenant colonel in the Department of Mines, and manager of the Kamsko-Votkinsk Ironworks. It happened only nine days after he conducted the premiere of his Symphony No. [26] Newspapers printed accounts given by confused relatives of Tchaikovsky's drinking a glass of unboiled water at Leiner's restaurant. Among these people was Nikolay Borisovich Jacobi, Senior Procurator to the Senate in the 1890s. His father, Ilya Petrovich Tchaikovsky, was an engineer by profession and was posted as a lieutenant colonel in the Department of Mines. Tchaikovsky wrote his Violin Concerto in March 1878 while staying amid the breathtaking mountains of Clarens, Switzerland on Lake Geneva. Tchaikovsky was also plagued with an inherited nervous condition, self-doubts about his musical skills and bouts of depression. In 1893, no fewer than 70 regions and provinces were combatting epidemics. Classical Net - Basic Repertoire List - Tchaikovsky. But, Cartoonist breaks down how a whole generation learned, classical music from watching old cartoons, The best classical music and opera online streams, Egypt’s orchestra for blind women is challenging, Fiery flamenco guitar quartet plays Beethoven’s Für Elise, The orchestra moving their concerts from halls to, Musicians still ‘falling through the gaps’ as £400m, When Beyoncé sang the US National Anthem a cappella to. This crisis was precipitated, according to some accounts, by his infatuation for his nephew, Vladimir Davydov, who was frequently referred to by the nickname "Bob" by the Davydov family and the composer. The actual cause of death was heart failure combined with lung edema, precipitated by kidney failure. Tchaikovsky studied music sporadically early in his life, but took a job as a government clerk. In 1893 Tchaikovsky died from complications of cholera, an epidemic of which was sweeping through St. Petersburg. "There exists, as far as we can recollect, a binding decree that commercial establishments, eating houses, restaurants, etc., should have boiled water". Lischke's father was a student of the composer in Petrograd in the 1920s. Music Analysis. Reaction on it was almost uniformly unfavorable. When did Tchaikovsky die? Glazunov confided the story to Lischke's father, who in turn passed it to his son. Kazan Cathedral holds 6,000 people, but 60,000 people applied for tickets to attend the service. Classic FM Case Notes podcast: He's one of the world's favourite composers - but how much do you really know about Tchaikovsky's enigmatic life and mysterious death? And he died of cho Tchaikovsky was born into a fairly wealthy middle-class family. Among those interviewed were Orlova, Brown and Poznansky, along with various experts on Russian history. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born on May 7, 1840 and died on November 6, 1893. Mozart. On 6 November 1893 [O.S. demanded that he protect their honor by committing suicide. 6 Pathetique, was heard by at least some as the composer's artistic farewell to this world. On 13 October, 200 cases of cholera were reported. [20], Also, Tchaikovsky's friend Hermann Laroche reported that the composer was scrupulous in his personal hygiene. Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was one of the most prolific Russian composers of the Romantic Era. The author of that essay in Russian Symphony: Thoughts about Tchaikovsky (1947) ends his quote as in the above posting, but Tchaikovsky’s letter (to Nadezhda von Meck on 23 November/5 December 1877) does in fact continue as follows: “However, conviction is one thing, and instinct and feeling another. The fact Tchaikovsky died from such a cause appeared to degrade his reputation among the upper classes and struck many as inconceivable. Tchaikovsky was gay at a time when it was illegal in Russia. Opera & Oratorio Premieres", "Music: A few well-rounded suicide notes", International Music Score Library Project, Festival Overture on the Danish National Anthem, International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Death_of_Pyotr_Ilyich_Tchaikovsky&oldid=997598613, Articles with International Music Score Library Project links, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Norton, Rictor, "Gay Love-Letters from Tchaikovsky to his Nephew Bob Davidof", The Great Queens of History, 19 October 2002, updated 5 November 2005 <, This page was last edited on 1 January 2021, at 09:34. Theories that Tchaikovsky's death was a suicide soon began to surface. The accuracy of the medical reports from the two physicians who had treated Tchaikovsky was questioned. He was the second son of Ilya Petrovich Tchaikovsky, a mining engineer and manager of the Kamsko-Votkinsk iron works, and his wife Aleksandra Andreyevna Tchaikovskaya(née Assier). During the meal, Tchaikovsky ordered a glass of water. [26] If so, what was a pitcher of unboiled water doing on the table? The house were Tchaikovsky died. This would help bolster a potential illusion of the death as a case of cholera. 10. Petersburg. [7] On hearing of Tchaikovsky's death, Diaghilev recalls, In despair I rushed out of the house, and although I realized Tchaikovsky had died of cholera I made straight for Malaya Morskaya, where he lived. We lifted the body of Tchaikovsky, myself holding the feet, and laid it on the table. It was exactly this circle of intimates, however, that Drigo accused of concealing the "truth", [Poznansky's quotation marks for emphasis] demanding false testimonies from authorities, physicians and priests. How Did Tchaikovsky Really Die? This meeting, held in Jacobi's study, lasted almost five hours. Classic FM Case Notes podcast: He's one of the world's favourite composers - but how much do you really know about Tchaikovsky's enigmatic life and mysterious death? The audience was stunned and Tchaikovsky stood there, motionless, his head bowed. During this time, 504,924 contracted cholera. On his father's side, Tchaikovsky's origins may be traced to the Ukrainian village of Nikolayevka in the Poltava region. But when the final sounds of the symphony had died away and Tchaikovsky slowly lowered the baton, there was dead silence in the audience. [53] However, Diaghilev apparently confirms Volkov's account. The timeline between Tchaikovsky's drinking unboiled water and the emergence of symptoms was brought into question, as well as the composer's procurement of unboiled water, in a reputable restaurant (according to one account), in the midst of a cholera epidemic with strict health regulations in effect. On October 21 he suddenly became ill and was diagnosed with cholera, an epidemic that was sweeping through St. Petersburg. His family had a long line of military service. Modest, by contrast, suggests that his brother drank the fateful glass at Modest's apartment during lunch on Thursday. The house were Tchaikovsky died. How did Tchaikovsky die? Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Пётр Ильич Чайковский) was born on 25 April/7 May 1840 at Votkinsk, in Vyatka Province, situated in the Ural mountains 600 miles east of Moscow. And discover the other episodes in the series here. Born in Kamsko-Votinsk, Russia on May 7, 1840, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a bright child; he could read Russian, French, and German by the time he was six. Holden adds that Tchaikovsky may have even known he had contracted cholera before the dinner at Leiner's Wednesday night. Tchaikovsky biographer David Brown argues that even before the doctors' accounts on the composer's death had appeared, what happened at his brother Modest's flat had been totally inconsistent with standard procedures for a death from cholera. Biographer Alexander Poznansky writes that on 1 November 1893 [O.S. Kotek died at the beginning of the new year, aged only 29 years old. [32], Referencing cholera specialist Dr. Valentin Pokovsky, Holden mentions another way Tchaikovsky could have contracted cholera—the "faecal-oral route", from less-than-hygienic sexual practices with male prostitutes in St. St.Petersburg,RussiaNovember 6, 1893That would be Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky the Russian composer, b 1840, d 1893. And absolutely nailed it. Overview. "[18] The disease did not affect more affluent and educated families because they observed the medical protocols forbidding the use or drinking of unboiled water. This explanation was accepted by many biographers of the composer. How Did Tchaikovsky Really Die? 20 October] (Wednesday) Tchaikovsky had gone to the theatre to see Alexander Ostrovsky's play The Ardent Heart. "Opening Night! A week later he died of cholera after having a glass of tap water. American pianist Van Cliburn caused a major shock in Moscow, at the height of the Cold War, when he won the Tchaikovsky competition in 1958. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky died at 3:15 in the morning on October 25 (November 6 by new calendar), 1893. This would have stimulated any cholera bacillus present by giving it a more favorable environment in which to flourish. Try 6 issues for just £9.99 when you subscribe to BBC Music Magazine today! Get tickets and more information at houstonsymphony.org. The letters are held in the archives of the Tchaikovsky State House-Museum in the town of Klin, north-west of Moscow, where he lived from 1892 until his … A Profile of Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky was deeply grieved, as evidenced by his brief diary entry a year and a half later: “Kotek’s letters. His marriage was designed to stop people gossiping about his love life – but it turned into a source of misery and torment for both the composer and Antonina (both pictured below). Regardless of its initial reception, two weeks after Tchaikovsky's death, on 18 November 1893, the composer's longtime friend, conductor Eduard Nápravník, led the second performance of the Pathétique Symphony at a memorial concert in St. Petersburg. One so worrisome that you were afraid to share it with anyone - a secret with which you lived in constant fear from being found out? For 19th-century Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, that secret was his homosexuality. He therefore invited all of Tchaikovsky's former schoolmates that he could locate in St. Petersburg—eight people altogether—to serve in a "court of honor" to discuss the charge. He writes that, despite lingering prejudice, the prevailing medical opinion was that cholera was less contagious than previously supposed. It appears to be a musical "non sequitur"—but it is from the Russian Orthodox Mass for the Dead, in which it is sung to the words: "And may his soul rest with the souls of all the saints.". This is the only day during which nothing is known about Tchaikovsky's activities until evening.