The Tchaikovsky Suicide Myth

When surfing for the links to the Tchaikovsky symphony I quickly found and rejected various sites that perpatuated the Tchaikovsky suicide myth.

For those not in the know, Tchaikovsky's death has been controversial since he died. The reasons are many, including the fact that he died of a "poor" man's disease -- cholera -- and the fact that shortly before his death he conducted the premiere of his 6th symphony, the dark and anguished "Pathetique." One historian called the symphony his "suicide note."

In the early 1980s, a more detailed account of Tchaikovsky's death surfaced, an account handed down by oral tradition and finally published. There were conflicting accounts, but generally:

Tchaikovsky was having an affair with the nephew or son of someone close to the Tsar. The boy's father found out, threatened to write the Tsar and expose the composer. Since Tchaikovsky was an alumnus of the School of Jurisprudence, his fellow classmates convened a Court of Honor to save scandal befalling the school from the disgrace of one of its promienent graduates. The "Court" handed Tchaikovsky an ultimatum -- kill thyself. Allegedly he then poisoned himself and his family covered it up by making it look like cholera.

This tale plays off the perception that Tchaikovsky was a poor, pathetic, tormented homosexual. It's a portrayal of him that pervades concert program notes, biographies, Web sites and on and on.

And it's all crap.

Here's something you should know about Tchaikovsky that I think is revealing. Shortly before embarking for America in the year before his death, Tchaikovsky's beloved sister died. If I recall correctly, he learned about her death shortly before setting sail. At the time he was composing the Nutcracker ballet and he even wrote of the irony of having to compose music about candy canes and sugar plums as he was mourning the death of his sister.

But compose he did and the music is fresh, sweet, full of childish innocence and gaiety. To write such music at such a time in his life must have taken real inner strength. He wrote this happy music at a time when any human would have been suffering a great sense of loss. Does this sound like a poor, suffering tormented human staggaring under unshakable pathos? Or does it sound like an artist, who, while capable of feeling deeply, had control of his emotions?

New scholarship refutes the suicide court of honor myth. Alexander Poznansky became the first westerner to have full access to the Tchaikovsky archieve at the composer's home in Kiln, Russia, and has provided a great bio of the composer and a documentary book refuting the court of honor myth.

The image of Tchaikovsky as a tormented homosexual has more to do with the biographers' and myth-mongers' view of homosexuality than the truth about Tchaikovsky. These people lived in a time when the view was that it would be impossible to be homosexual and happy. They are the cultural forefathers to those today who say that the gay "lifestyle" can be nothing but disease and death.

In the end, Tchaikovsky reconciled his homosexuality after a struggle, as most of us do, and lived a rich life surrounded by friends and lovers who adored him. He was a classy man who lived and died with elegance and grace. The world often offers gays nothing but ugliness and vile. Tchaikovsky created great beauty in return.

As so many in our community often do.