It is 1869 and Tchaikovsky works as a professor at the Moscow Conservatory. His life smiles at him and he is in love, in his diary he notes that he has never loved anyone in that way. In the overtoure romeo and giulietta, of those same years, Tchaikovsky recounts the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets, and finally the triumph of love between the two lovers... in this theme of love we feel all the melodic talent of Tchaikovsky a wide and dreamy melody. But a dark and ineluctable fate awaits the composer. the person he was in love with was called Eduard Sack, he was a seventeen year old boy, his pupil at the conservatory In Russia, homosexuality, however widespread, was punished with deportation to Siberia and forced labor. Tchaikovsky speaks of homosexuality as a weakness, as a shame. In romeo and giuliatta next to the dreamy theme of love there is also the theme of conflict, of the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets, it is a passage punctuated by violent chords with an irregular and syncopated rhythm, with unexpected accents, such as the slashes of a sword fight. This attention to rhythm is typical of Tchaikovsky's style, a composer who brought ballet to its maximum expressive results, with masterpieces such as the nutcracker or swan lake, even in his symphonic music the overwhelming rhythms of dance often emerge. Tchaikovsky's style will also set school in this: try to compare what we have just heard with this passage by Stranvinski from 1913. The young Eduard Sack, one of Čajkovskij's first loves, kills himself with a gunshot, at the age of nineteen. Tchaikovsky is destroyed by it, his inner conflict grows between his homosexual nature and the intolerance of Russian society. This sense of guilt will keep him entangled throughout his life, it will be like a sword of Damocles, a dark fate, an ineluctable destiny of unhappiness. The 4th symphony is dominated by the theme of fate, he force that prevents the vital impulse towards happiness, he symphony continually tries to free itself from the chains of destiny, but a gloomy fanfare of trumpets continually catapults the music into the resignation of a repetitive, insistent theme and infinitely tragic. The music of us tells all the homosexual anguish in a homophobic world, there is no hope of escaping the dark trumpets of fate. Tchaikovsky writes to his modest brother that he can no longer bear the shame of his condition and that he intends to marry. He receives a letter from Antonina Miljukova, a piano student secretly in love with him. Tchaikovsky seizes the opportunity for a facade wedding which took place on July 18, 1877. At the moment of the kiss, Tchaikovsky bursts into tears. In his letters he defines his wife as completely repugnant on a physical level. The composer enters a spiral of depression and attacks of despair that will lead him to perform decidedly rash acts. We might as well escape from the greyness of a reality that does not understand him, taking refuge in a dreamlike, fantastic world, the world of fairy tales and childhood: Tchaikovsky's ballets are among his most famous works, here the composer exploits all his timbre sensitivity, which is another of the characteristics of Tchaikovsky's music the attention to the timbral aspect of the composition. Think of the nutcracker sound palette, crystalline, cold and mysterious sounds: in this ballet a little girl dreams of her toys that come to life and transport her to the kingdom of sweets, where she meets the sugar plum fairy, queen of the kingdom. Described with a very particular timbre, that of the celesta: the celesta is an instrument used for the first time in the orchestra with this ballet, the particular sound of the celesta makes the cold and restless smile of this character very well, the cold and woody mystery of the toy that comes to life. The relationship between Tchaikovsky and his wife is increasingly strained. One evening, completely exhausted, he dives naked in the icy waters of the Moscòva, with the intention of catching pneumonia and putting an end to his suffering. e has reached the limit. His brother and some friends take him to a psychiatrist who pronounces the expulsion of the two spouses, Tchaikovsky's marriage is over. The wife will end her days in an asylum. We are in the period of national schools, composers from various countries try to give voice to their national traditions, in russia the group of five tries to found Russian music that is independent of the conventions of European classical music. In Tchaikovsky the Russian tradition is well represented, especially in his early works, such as the Little Russian Symphony. but the composer after the separation, will begin a long period of pilgrimage for Europe. He is subsidized by his wealthy patron and pen friend, Madame von Meck. Precisely this tendency to constantly move will determine the eclectic character of Tchaikovsky's style. And the charm of music also lies in this mixture of the Russian element and the Western tradition. His unique and expressive style will make him more and more famous. In the nineties his tour in the United States consecrates him as one of the most famous composers in the world. Everything seems to be fine in Tchaikovsky's life. In this period he writes his sixth symphony, his great masterpiece: but as always his secret guilt, his sin haunts him and fate awaits him around every corner. The Sixth Symphony is also one of the darkest and most haunted compositions in the history of music. Tchaikovsky He will die a week after the premiere. Of a sudden, unexpected and mysterious death. One of the official versions says he committed suicide to prevent a particularly private homosexual relationship from becoming public knowledge. We do not know how it really went, at this point in history all the testimonies we have, that of the modest brother, that of the doctor, those of friends, diverge from each other. The most accredited version is that Tchaikovsky purposely drank a glass of unboiled water, aware of the cholera epidemic, and in this way he fell ill and died a few days later. According to some testimonies, the problem was the relationship between the composer and the young nephew of a duke, who had written a letter addressed to the tsar to denounce the composer. Then again fate, the sword of Damocles hanging over his head, the horrendous guilt to which the homophobia of nineteenth-century Russia had condemned him. In the pathetic all this emerges through violent, barbaric sounds. Certainly the sixth symphony is one of the darkest and most pessimistic pages in the history of music, the testament of a personality who lived his whole life with guilt and torment. in this way russia killed its greatest composer. Subscribe to the channel to stay updated on my upcoming works and projects, I will soon give you news of a series of concerts and lessons that I will hold in Rome. If you want to support me with a donation, you will find the link to the kofi page in the description, but you can also do it through youtube, here is also my patreon page if you want to become a patron of the channel, like baroness von meck. I also remind you to follow me on my other social networks. And if you like my content, share it. I salute you to the next.