Great Composers: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

[@abe_48]

Not just a great composer but the greatest ever! The art of music is rooted in development of unforgettable melodies that soothe our souls, pathos that touch our hearts with beautiful orchestration and colorful harmony and counterpoint that we wish to hear repeatedly without ever getting tired. On this basis, Tchaikovsky was the greatest composer who ever walked the face of the earth because of his array of spectacular and virtuosic super masterpieces in all genres of classical music: operas, ballets, piano concertos, violin concerto, cello concerto, symphonies, large orchestral tone poems, church choir music, chamber music and songs. No other composer could ever come close to such a distinction, not even by a long shot.

[@Mackeson3]

Apparently whilst Benjamin Britten was writing his one and only ballet music "The Prince of The Pagodas" he kept a score of "Swan Lake" by his bedside.

[@lucaslambert3611]

Pretty cool

[@terra5491]

Tchaikovski german piano teacher said Tchaikovski was a kind of mediocre without a real talent but it was the future composer’s father who insisted his son continued musical education after graduation from a law school. Tchaikovski wrote himself that he is very lucky to have such father.

[@michaelpaulsmith4619]

No, he didn't. His piano teacher, a man called Kudinger, said that Tchaikovsky was very talented but he did not foresee what a giant he was to become. This was written many years later and, for me, gives us a very good impression of Mr. Kudinger's integrity.

[@julianmanjarres1998]

Man these videos are great! So informative and interesting! Thanks for your work on these videos.

[@fredreed7202]

I just read this excellent piece today, 3/17/2022. You covered so much material in such a succinct, but yet detailed manner. Kudos to you!!

[@michaelpaulsmith4619]

As someone who's been studying Tchaikovsky's life and music now for more than 50 years, I congratulate you on such an insightful summary in the short time you had! I can think of no better introduction to man and music than this. But I believe (like you probably) that he did kill himself and that the 6th symphony is his suicide note. I can't prove it, of course. So, he drank a glass of unboiled water...? According to Tchaikovsky's brother, Modest, he drank it the day after a visit to the theatre, at breakfast and in Modest's apartment According to his nephew, he drank it at a restaurant called Leiner's the night before, causing quite a scene: Tchaikovsky arrived late from the theatre in quite a state and asked for a glass of cold water. They didn't have any. (What? One of the biggest and most popular eateries in SP didn't have any water?) Besides which, Tchaikovsky always drank mineral water... Aspen if he could get it. So we're meant to believe that this place had run out of both boiled tap water AND every brand of mineral water. Seriously? Glazunov supports this story too, writing, "I should know. I was there." But Tchaikovksy's beloved mother had died of cholera when he was 14 and he was terrified of the disease. It doesn't make sense, does it? Until you read that one of the doctors who attended the composer in his last days was a man called Lev Bertenson, also the Tsar's physician. According to his wife, on his deathbed, the good doctor said, "I killed Tchaikovsky." Arsenic mimics the symptoms of cholera really quite closely but are we really to believe that Tchaikovsky chose this agonizing way to die? I don't think so. I think Bertenson gave him a lethal injection yet signed cholera as the cause of death. There, my little rant is over. Once again, I really enjoyed the video!

[@arq9731]

"According to his wife, on his deathbed, the good doctor said "I killed Tchaikovsky". Where can i read this information? I want to read it!

[@classicalmusic3334]

Tchaikovsky's wife was very distraught indeed, because today I was reading a book about Tchaikovsky and apparently Antonina was looked after by Tchaikovsky's sister for a little while, but she just couldn't take Antonina's fits of crying anymore. Another grim detail was that apparently Antonina would bite her nails to the point that there were bloodstains all over the room! In that sense I'm not surprised that she eventually ended up in a mental institution, a tragic story indeed.

[@wolfgangresch1650]

Thank you for the OUTSTANDING videos!!!👍👍👍👍👍

[@gerritsevereid4657]

YES RUSSIAN MUSIC

[@charlesdavis7087]

Love your understanding and insights. Thanks so much for sharing.

[@reecerivalland1528]

Thanks for the great vid, I've been looking forward to it

[@reecerivalland1528]

I also was once PastorDolph

[@ClassicalNerd]

Glad you enjoyed it! Sorry it's been so long coming; there's a lot on the ol' agenda.

[@bayremdridi5131]

Loved the variations on a rococo theme in the background (is it the one played by Narek haknazaryan), although it distract me many times, it's definitely my most favorite tchaikovsky composition.

[@Karina-hn5jp]

Your Russian pronunciation(the way you pronounce russian composer's names )is sooo good,do you know this language? Btw what is your favorite russian composer? P.s just found your account,it's so interesting, thank you so much for all of your work!

[@ClassicalNerd]

Aside from English, the only language I know anything about is German, and even then only barely. I'd honestly love to learn Russian, but the time involved to have to learn an entirely different alphabet is time I just don't have-at least not any time soon! I do try my best to pronounce everything correctly regardless of language; I don't always get it right, but I make my best shot at it nonetheless. I have to say that I'm rather partial to Medtner, Glière, Scriabin, Roslavets, and Lourié. Of those, I find the so-called "Russian Futurists" most interesting, for the myriad what-ifs of their historical context as much as for their music in and of itself.

[@vocalchords3609]

First rate summary - thank you!

[@wilkemusic397]

good job - very informative

[@daniellebreitstein6007]

I feel like just listening to the very end of the finale of “Pathetique” is enough evidence that the Symphony could be a suicide note. The gradual drop of all the instruments until only the cello and bass are left, with the bass playing what sounds like a fading heart beat.

[@ClassicalNerd]

The evidence that it _is_ a suicide note is certainly compelling, but it's such a strong assertion that I felt like it needed more airtight evidence. OrchestrationOnline has a great video about what kind of really cool tricks Tchaikovsky used in the finale, which doesn't outright disprove the suicide theory, but lends credence to the idea that he was trying to do something new.

[@srothbardt]

His Symphony No.6 is actually, in Russian, “Patetitceskaja” meaning “passionate “ and he was very happy to have written it. The work itself has nothing to do with suicide.

[@karllieck9064]

He was the most versatile of the great composers.

[@infanta4283]

Loved it. After reading enough Poznansky & Wiley the suicide sounds like a silly conspiracy. Can’t think of a more appropriate musical genius to fill up so much of my life.

[@MrDSCH-ib2mx]

For now, Tchaikovsky is my favorite composer of all time along with Shostakovich! The Pathétique symphony is my alltime favorite symphony and the best recording of that symphony in my opinion is the one conducted by Teodor Currentzis and played by the MusicAeterna orchestra. Speaking of which, what will be your take on the Greek-born Russian conductor Teodor Currentzis?

[@glensheppard1056]

Hey I love this series, but I’m curious will you be doing Mozart? Or maybe you’ve done it and I’m blind and can’t find it.

[@ClassicalNerd]

I've not covered Mozart yet. Since the requests started rolling in a year ago, my issue has been in how to deal with them in a timely manner. With a once-a-week production schedule it's been untenable. Check out my 1K subscriber video for a bit more elucidation. Suffice it to say that I'm putting it on the list [ lentovivace.com/requestqueue.html ] and will eventually get to it, although I'm transitioning away from a request _queue_ outright in favor of something a bit more varied and crowdsourced, interspersed with my own projects and videos.

[@georgealderson4424]

A very interesting video about a very complex man sir. Thank you. You mentioned that PIT was very susceptible to criticism. I wonder what the difference is between critiicism means in this case compared with expressing personal taste and woud appreciate your personal thoughts. After all ordinary mortals such as I would respond by suggesting that if the critic could do better then they are free to do so. Blessings and peace

[@ClassicalNerd]

Historically, musical criticisms are either a) expressions of personal taste, as you mentioned, or b) levied in part of a greater stylistic controversy. For instance, Wagner fans felt as though they _had_ to blast Brahms, and Adorno's adoration of Schoenberg made him feel as though he _had_ to criticize Stravinsky. Following in that vein, Tchaikovsky and the "Mighty Handful" were often at odds, for Tchaikovsky was conservatory-trained and the Handful were profoundly anti-academia. Thus, some of their criticisms of Tchaikovsky were fueled not merely by personal tastes, but by anti-academic sentiments; they felt as though they had to "take him down a peg" lest the conservatory system instantiate itself too much on Russian soil. Tchaikovsky's susceptibility to criticisms comes from the fact that he was just a sensitive guy who took a lot of things to heart. As often as we find hard-headed artists regardless of what the critics thought, we find artists who deeply want their work to be appreciated, to the point that the smallest of criticisms can get under their skin.

[@georgealderson4424]

@@ClassicalNerd Thank you very much for your most interesting reply. I remember that Cui almost destroyed Rachmaninoff personally with his damning review of SVR's 1st symphony even though it was first performed ineptly shall we say. These people are dangerous! Beware!

[@johninman7545]

The way that the sixth symphony ends give way to the suicide theory

[@pdsayre]

I greatly enjoyed your presentation on the miraculous Pitor Tchaikovksy. I'm curious: 1) where can I find Tchaikovsky's reference to Fauré as "adorable," and 2) where can I find his reference to the prospect of gardening full time if his invention waned? All the best, Paul Sayre

[@ClassicalNerd]

Since early 2019, I've put all of my sources in the video descriptions. For earlier videos, although my process was the same, I never copied down the books, articles, theses, and dissertations that fed into the script. I will say that those bits came from reading analytical papers on Tchaikovsky's works (which, in dissertation form, usually have biographies that precede the analytical portion). The Fauré bit may have originated in my similar research into Fauré earlier in the same year I made this video on Tchaikovsky. I wish I could point you somewhere more specific, but there's no way for me to recall where I read any given detail.

[@pdsayre]

@@ClassicalNerd Thank you, and best wishes on continued success!

[@bassoonistfromhell]

Have you made a video about Mahler yet?

[@ClassicalNerd]

Nope-but your request will be put into the request pool, to be put into effect in the post-request-queue era.

[@beatlessteve1010]

I tried to read all the titles on your bookshelf ...I thought Arthur lesser's book on Men, Women, and Pianos would be there.

[@chopin65]

I think you understate homophobia in Russia in his day.

[@classicalteacher]

3:15. "He learned a little flute." So he learned the piccolo?

[@_Chuvisco_]

Loooooooooooooooool!!!

[@ezetosan]

You should do one about Paul Hindemith! I like your videos

[@ClassicalNerd]

It'll be a while, but I'll get around to Hindemith eventually!

[@youtubechannel-wx7dp]

Hello i have a paper and really need to figure out how he influenced music

[@culturalconfederacy782]

I have a theory about Tchaikovsky's death. What about food poisoning. The symptoms that biographers say he experienced after eating at the restaurant, sound similar to those someone suffers after having a reaction to something undercooked. He could have had an ailment that went untreated for years. A combination of this ailment and undercooked meat could have done him in.

[@JBorda]

Is Igor top 5 among greatest composers?

[@sanaefujii3882]

8:38

[@jeffwads]

Hmm. I read that he actually thought quite highly of Richard Wagner. I would doubt his sanity if not.

[@abe_48]

No he did not. German musicians were dominant in musical circles of the time which included Tchaikovsky's mentors: the Rubinstein brothers. So it was like a career suicide to criticize the banal and uninteresting music of some of the more famous composers like Beethoven or Wagner. Tchaikovsky had a dim view of such German composers and charitably described some works of Bach as causing fatigue.

[@Tolstoy111]

@@abe_48Anton Rubinstein hated Wagner’s music and said so. Tchaikovsky through Wagner was a natural symphonist who was wasting his talent writing operas.

[@kmk8284]

"he was bad with money" Ha! what's new

[@canyon_online]

Unrelated to great composers, does the way you play music influence the way you talk? Very rhythmic with lots of inflection haha

[@ClassicalNerd]

I've never thought of it that way, but I suppose there are some connections there! During my time running the channel, I've tried my best to get better at slowing my cadence down (I generally talk much faster in real life), and thus probably have compensated with inflection to keep things interesting.

[@johninman7545]

We have understand that homosexuality was thou of as non human even maturation was thought of as extremely aberrant. Thank Goc for Sigmunde Frued who in his letter to an American woman dashed all that cultural bagage

[@swymaj02]

How Russia rlly sucked in music b4 Tchaikovsky never gets me.

[@Tolstoy111]

Glinka!