Why did composer Peter Tchaikovsky suicide?

Comments ( 4 )

1. Duchess Rodmilla de says

   The question of whether Tchaikovsky committed suicide is an interesting one. One troubling aspect of the cholera theory is that though his body lay in state in his brother's bedroom and was then taken to Kazan Cathedral were hundreds of mourners filed past to pay their respects, not one person was reported as catching the highly contagious disease.

   Rumours persist that Tchaikovsky was having a relationship the tsar’s son and that Alexander III ordered Tchaikovsky's disappearance (to be poisoned by his doctor, claimed Tchaikovsky's sister-in-law).

   Yet another theory has him having an affair with the nephew of a Russian nobleman. There is no doubt that Tchaikovsky was fearful of posterity knowing about the sexuality he himself described as 'unnatural' and a 'vice'. Some suggest he killed himself in despair over his sexuality or from fear of its disclosure.

   I have just found the Wikipedia article on the subject of Tchaikovsky's suicide:

   Another version holds that Tchaikovsky had been undergoing a severe personal crisis. This crisis was precipitated, according to some accounts, by his infatuation for his nephew, Bob Davydov. This would reportedly explain the agonies expressed in the Sixth Symphony, as well as the mystery surrounding its program. Many analysts, working from this tangent, have since read the Pathétique as intensely autobiographical.

   The theory goes that Tchaikovsky realized the full extent of his feelings for Bob (his nephew), plus the unlikelihood of their physical fulfilment. He supposedly poured his misery onto this one last great work as a conscious prelude to suicide, and then drank unboiled water in the hope of contracting cholera. In this way, as with his wading into the Moscow river in 1877 in frustration over his marriage, Tchaikovsky could commit suicide without bringing disgrace upon his family.

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2. Alberich says

   It is a generally accepted fact amongst historians/musicologist that Tchaikovsky was homosexual; but the exact cause of his death has never been determined:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tchaikovsky

   I would contend that his life on the whole, was not going well at the time of his death. Although he had achieved international renown as a great composer, he died 9 days following the premiere of his last composition, the famous "Pathetique", his "6th Symphony".

   If one listens in particular to the last, it's 4th movement, one could not help it would seem to me understand, to realize that its composition expresses his final philosophical resolution regarding his life, and how he perceived it would end: one in a state of utter, resigned despair – total hopeless, complete despondence: revealing at least to me that he already knew it would be his last:
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BFBXKCIAic&featur…

   By the above, I guess what I'm trying to say is that he had already seen "the handwriting on the wall"; no doubt his sexual orientation had been threatened to be publicly exposed – and whether he actually committed suicide by drinking a glass of unboiled water or not in light of an epidemic of cholera at the time, he was already dying of an insurmountable, profound grief.

   Alberich

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3. del_icious_manager says

   Anklesock: 'Pyotr' is the Russian form of the name Peter (just as it is Pierre in French, Pietro in Italian, Pedro in Spanish, Pieter in Dutch and Piotr in Polish). Il'ich is a Russian patronimic and indicates he was 'the son of Il'ya'.

   It has never been satisfactorily proved one way of the other whether or not Tchaikovsky committed suicide (through deliberately drinking cholera-contaminated water or any other means). Some think he was under instructions sent down by the Tsar himself (homosexuality was illegal and shameful in the late nineteenth century). On the other hand, Tchaikovsky's career was going very well at this time and so his untimely death at only 53 could have been a tragic accident.

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4. anklesockrockers says

   His name was peter? i thought it was Pyotr Ilich ..

   D.O.D 6th Nov 1893

   A lot of sources point to his ordeal with Cholera, not suicide, however more recent sources (which can't necessarily be proved) indicate that a 'court of honor' was issued by his classmates.. for more info check out this website:
   http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classical/tchaikovsky…

   hope this helps.

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