Tchaikovsky's Empire : A New Life of Russia's Greatest Composer

A thrilling new biography of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky-composer of some of the world's most popular orchestral and theatrical music �"A lively, argumentative and thoughtful reflection on one of the 19th century's most important musical figures."-Michael O'Donnell, Wall Street Journal � Tchaikovsky is famous for all the wrong reasons. Portrayed as a hopeless romantic, a suffering melancholic, or a morbid obsessive, the Tchaikovsky we think we know is a shadow of the fascinating reality. It is all too easy to forget that he composed an empire's worth of music, and navigated the imperial Russian court to great advantage. � In this iconoclastic biography, celebrated author Simon Morrison re-creates Tchaikovsky's complex world. His life and art were framed by Russian national ambition, and his work was the emanation of an imperial subject: kaleidoscopic, capacious, cosmopolitan, decentred. � Morrison reexamines the relationship between Tchaikovsky's music, personal life, and politics; his support of Tsars Alexander II and III; and his engagement with the cultures of the imperial margins, in Ukraine, Poland, and the Caucasus. Tchaikovsky's Empire unsettles everything we thought we knew-and gives us a vivid new appreciation of Russia's most popular composer.