tendencies and that some of the composer\’s closest relationships were with persons of the same sex.
Tchaikovsky\’s servant Aleksei Sofronov and the composer\’s nephew, Vladimir \”Bob\” Davydov, have been suggested as possible romantic interests. Tchaikovsky dedicated his Sixth Symphony, the Pathétique, to Davydov.
Tchaikovsky and Davydov
The Tchaikovsky love theme from Romeo and Juliet is considered to having been inspired by Eduard Zak, his pupil, who killed himself in 1873.
Biographer Anthony Holden claims British musicologist and scholar Henry Zajaczkowski\’s research \”along psychoanalytical lines\” points to \”a severe unconscious inhibition by the composer of his sexual feelings\”.
It seems that Tchaikovsky was tormented by his suppressed homosexuality and the constant fear of exposure. Although he married one of his students, his attempt at straight family life was disastrous. Even though they remained married, they had no children and did not live together. Within two weeks of their wedding he tried to kill himself, hoping to catch pneumonia by plunging himself into the Moscow River.
Musicologist and historian Roland John Wiley, based on Tchaikovsky\’s letters, suggests that
while Tchaikovsky experienced \”no unbearable guilt\” over his homosexuality, he remained aware of the negative consequences of that knowledge becoming public, especially of the ramifications for his family. His decision to enter into a heterosexual union and try to lead a double life was prompted by several factors—the possibility of exposure, the willingness to please his father, his own desire for a permanent home and his love of children and family.
In his later years, Tchaikovsky was open about his homosexuality.
Death
Tchaikovsky died less than one week after the premiere of his Symphony No.6 in St. Petersburg, Russia, on the 16th of October 1893. The premiering what is considered to be his greatest work, Symphony Pathetique.
There are many rumors about Tchaikovsky\’s cause of his sudden death at the age of 53. For a long time it was thought that he died of cholera after drinking a glass of water that wasn\’t boiled.
The death by suicide became almost a fact when, in the mid-70\’s, testimonial evidence was made public in the Soviet Union, coming from the families of those concerned, of the way in which Tchaikovsky died.
Although it is not a \”proven fact\”, this new version has been widely accepted. According to the testimonies, a member of the nobility, Stenbok-Fernor, had threatened to complain to the Tsar about an alleg