What greater compliment can a composer receive than the fact that Gustav Mahler would perform your works? Such was in fact the case with the life of Peter Tchaikovsky when Mahler performed Tchaikovsky’s Symphony #6. At the same time, the composer was struggling with the fact that he was a Gay man at a time when being Gay was not tolerated…
The life of Peter Tchaikovsky was simultaneously one of the most successful and one of the most tragic in all of music. He created a respected and envied body of works which included six symphonies, three piano concertos, a violin concerto, ten operas, dozens of orchestral works, numerous songs, chamber music compositions, and three of the world’s best-loved ballets.
It is generally accepted that the root of Tchaikovsky’s personal problems was a deep-seated guilt about his homosexuality, a situation which fed his inability to share his innermost feelings. This situation was temporarily managed while he carried on a fourteen-year relationship — entirely through correspondence — with the wealthy widow Nadezhda von Meck.
After a successful tour of the United States, England, and Germany in 1891 and 1892, Tchaikovsky returned to Russia in a state of extreme depression. At previous similar moments in his life, he had turned to symphonic composition as a way of recovering.
Finally, in the spring of 1893, he immersed himself in the composition of his Symphony No. 6 in B minor. Ultimately it was subtitled “Pathetique”.
Here is the Tchaikovsky Symphony #6 for your enjoyment:
