Tcahikovsky is one of the most popular composers who ever lived. He is also one of the most misunderstood, as both man and musician, and looks destined to remain among the most controversial. His life was lived at the extremes, and fuelled by passions of almost every kind. This title helps to meet the composer in the context of his times.

Tchaikovsky has long intrigued music-lovers as a figure who straddles many borders--between East and West, nationalism and cosmopolitanism, tradition and innovation, tenderness and bombast, masculine and feminine. In this book, through consideration of his music and biography, scholars from several disciplines explore the many sides of Tchaikovsky. The volume presents for the first time in English some of Tchaikovsky's own writings about music, as well as three influential articles, previously available only in German, from the 1993 Tübingen conference commemorating the centennial of Tchaikovsky's death. Tchaikovsky's distinguished biographer, Alexander Poznansky, reveals new findings from his most recent archival explorations in Kiln, Tchaikovsky's home. Poznansky makes accessible for the first time the full text of perviously censored letters, clarifying issues about the composer's life that until now have remained mere conjecture. Leon Botstein examines the world of realist art that was so influential in Tchaikovsky's day, while Janet Kennedy describes how interpretations of Tchaikovsky's ballet Sleeping Beauty act as a barometer of the aesthetic and even political climate of several generations. Natalia Minibayeva elucidates the First Orchestral Suite as a workshop for Tchaikovsky's composition of large-scale works, including symphony, opera, and ballet, while Susanne Dammann discusses the problematic Fourth Symphony as a work perfectly poised between East and West. Arkadii Klimovitsky considers Tchaikovsky's role as a link between Russia's Golden and Silver Ages. The extensive interaction between music and literature in this period forms the basis for Rosamund Bartlett's essay on creative parallels between Tchaikovsky and Chekhov. Richard Wortman describes the political climate at the end of Tchaikovsky's life, including Alexander III's mania for re-creating seventeenth-century Russian culture. Caryl Emerson, Kadja Grönke, and Leslie Kearney examine a number of issues raised by Tchaikovsky's operas. Marina Kostalevsky translates Nikolai Kashkin's 1899 review of Tchaikovsky's controversial opera Orleanskaia Deva (The Maid of Orleans). The book concludes with examples of theoretical writing by Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, authors of Russia's first two systematic books on music theory. Lyle Neff translates and provides commentary on compositional issues that Tchaikovsky discusses in personal correspondence, as well as Rimsky-Korsakov's analysis of his own opera Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden). Tchaikovsky and His World will change how we understand the life, works, and intellectual milieu of one of the most important and beloved composers of the nineteenth century. Originally published in 1998. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The great Russian composer Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a compulsive letter writer.

This volume uniquely combines a lively biography of one of the best-loved composers of the nineteenth century with a detailed chronological guide to much of his oeuvre, from the most popular - Swan Lake or the 1812 Overture - to the lesser known pieces. David Brown enthusiastically and sensitively guides the reader through Tchaikovsky's music in the context of his life. His writing on the music is accessible and informative, both for the professional musician and the keen amateur listener. The biographical writing includes fascinating quotations from the composer's letters, and those of his friends; the Tchaikovsky that emerges is, despite his periodic struggle with depression, a man with a positive attitude to life, and a kind and supportive friend to many around him. This is essential reading for anyone with an interest in Tchaikovsky, his music, or the culture of the time. 'One of the finest one-volume biographies to have appeared in recent years, written with such insight that it feels as though one is on a hot-line to the composer himself . . . by the end I felt I knew Tchaikovsky so much better. A classic.' Classic FM Magazine 'I can't imagine a more intelligently sympathetic treatment of the man and his music.' BBC Music Magazine

Written with enthusiasm and accessible prose, the Classic fM Lifelines series will become the Everyman o f musical biographies. Titles for the series have been chose n from the Classic fM''s own listener surveys of most popular composers. '

Living a lie could crush one's spirit forever. But admitting the truth could be even worse. Bestowed with a rare musical gift, but burdened by demons of self-doubt and passions forbidden in 19th century Russia, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky struggled to release the music inside his head. And equally, to find romantic fulfillment that always remained just beyond his reach. He was deeply affected by the women in his life - those he loved, those he despised, and those whose affection he longed so badly to hold. Yet, aside from music, his truest passion was reserved only for men. Tchaikovsky refused to abide by the rules of the musical establishment of his time. Assailed by critics as being 'neither Russian nor German, ' he endured scathing criticism which he often took to heart, destroying many of his own 'imperfect' compositions. This compelling new work takes you inside the head of Pyotr - from age seven to his untimely death at fifty-three. It also provides a layman's guide to his music and his musical influences, and the techniques Tchaikovsky used to chart his musical destiny.

Originally published in 1899, and revised in 1908, this is a "complete classific account of works, copious analyses of important works, analytical and other indices; also, supplement dealing with The Relation of Tchaikovsky to Art-Questions of the Day by Edwin Evans." The work also includes extracts from his writings, and the diary of his tour abroad in 1888. Rosa Newmarch was a well-known of English music writer and annotator, and a President of the Royal College of Music. This title is cited and recommended by Books for College Libraries and Catalogue of the Lamont Library, Harvard College.