Klarinet Archive - Posting 000287.txt from 1998/10

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] TCHAIKOVSKY AND SKELETONS
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1998 11:03:43 -0400

OK - which story does he believe - or haven't you got that far yet?
Awaiting future developments with interest...
ROger Shilcock

On Tue, 6 Oct 1998, Rachel Ann Gorden Mercer wrote:

> Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1998 10:22:46 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Rachel Ann Gorden Mercer <rgorden@-----.edu>
> Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: Re: [kl] TCHAIKOVSKY AND SKELETONS
>
> If you're interested in the story of Tschaikovsy's death, I'm reading as
> very interesting book on the subject. It's called Tchaikovsky's Last Days
> by Poznansky. He has done a lot of research in Russia and looked at
> diaries and the writings of his brother, Modest. He examines both the
> suicide theory and the cholera theory. It's interesting.
>
> Happy reading,
> Rachel Gorden Mercer
> rgorden@-----.edu
>
>
>
>
>
> nny!1On Mon, 5 Oct 1998, avrahm galper wrote:
>
> > TSCHAIKOVSY AND SKELETONS
> >
> > Talking about skeletons, I picked up a book at the library, a book of
> > anecdotes about the musical world.
> > There was a story about Tschaikovsky. We now know that he was gay.
> > But in those days it was not that well known.
> >
> > Apparently he was having some profound influence on a son of the Grand
> > Duke (related to the Czar) and the Grand Duke was not happy about it.
> >
> > Tschaikovsky's former law student friends called him (he studied law
> > when he was young) and had a confrontation with him.
> >
> > The law at the time was: a person discovered to be gay was deprived of
> > his citizenship and exiled to Siberia.
> >
> > They gave him an alternative: commit suicide to avoid this fate.
> >
> > This is why there is the story of Tschaikovsky drinking unboiled water
> > in a restaurant during an epidemic and dying of cholera.
> >
> > At his funeral, the big named composers looked at the open casket and
> > Rimsky-Korsakov was heard saying, "Don't they keep these coffins
> > hermetically closed when one dies of cholera?"
> >
> > The story shook me. I asked a Russian musician living in Toronto about
> > it and he said that it was true. Tschaikovsky drank poisin to avoid the
> > penalty.
> >
> > When one listens to the last movement of the pathetique, one can hear
> > the depth of grief he must have been subjected to. He may have written
> > this before this event.
> > Still one of my favorite composers.
> >
> >
> > Avrahm Galper
> > THE UPBEAT BAERMANN MELODIC SCALES AND ARPEGGIOS
> > http://www.sneezy.org/avrahm_galper/index.html
> >
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> >
> >
>
>
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