| The Composer part 2 |
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| Tchaikovsky�s time in Clarens served him very well, musically. Some of his best works came from this period (www.artsworld.com), but he also encountered his best friend. A woman named Nadeja Fillaretovna von Meck wrote him saying she was in love with his work. The two wrote to each other frequently, and eventually she persuaded him to stop teaching and to concentrate on his music. She agreed to pay him living expenses every month if he�d focus on composing only, her only request was that they could not physically meet each other (but they ended up meeting once much later). Tchaikovsky opened himself up to von Meck more than he did with anyone else in his life. He shared his thoughts on life, compositions, relationships, family, and faith with her, and for this he wrote his fourth symphony for her. She was the only person to ever ask him if he�s ever felt true love, and his reply was (www.tchaikovsky.host.sk): |
| �If you ask me, my friend ... whether I have experienced complete happiness in love, then I shall answer: no, no, and no!!! However, I believe the answer to this question is present in my music as well. But if you ask me whether I understand the full might, the full immeasurable force of this feeling, then I shall answer: yes, yes, and yes, and again I shall say that I have attempted with love to express the agony and also the bliss of love.� |
| -Tchaikovsky |
| Nadeja Fillaretovna von Meck |
| Peter's last portrait |
| While they were corresponding, his music was getting very popular. Some of his greatest works came from the mid seventies through the mid eighties, but once again, a nervous breakdown was on its way. |
| Feeling in debt to Nadeja, he tried to make it up to her by writing a lot of music, but he ended up overproducing and becoming too stressed (www.d-vista.com), leading to another breakdown. As time passed Peter got a little more comfortable being around people, so the composer toured Europe doing shows in Prague, Hamburg, Paris, London, and Berlin. He kept composing during his years of fame and success, when in 1892 he moved to a town called Kiln, and in this same year, von Meck wrote him a letter saying she did not want a friendship with him anymore because she felt like he was not writing for the music, but rather the fame, which left him very distraught. He performed his last opus and it did not receive any special acclaim from the audience, although he felt like he put his heart and soul into the piece. This poor public response, and the insecurity about losing his best friend, and further depression about his homosexuality drove him into another state of great depression; so right after his performance he drank a glass of unfiltered water. Nine days later on November 6, 1893, Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky died of cholera from the unfiltered water. |
| Tchaikovsky's funeral |
| Tchaikovsky's grave |
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