Description

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.

Publisher Review

“A lively, argumentative and thoughtful reflection on one of the 19th century’s most important musical figures.”-Michael O’Donnell, Wall Street Journal

“[A] well grounded and lucid new account.”-Richard Morrison, Times (UK)

“Concise. . . . A fresh profile of a familiar composer.”-Financial Times, “Best Books of 2024: Classical and Pop Music”

“It is lucid, original and, above all, highly enjoyable.”-Stephen Walsh, Literary Review

“Morrison slashes the overgrowth of fantasy, rumor, and plain bad scholarship that have accumulated onto his subject with insight and observations sharpened by detached wit. . . . Demythologized, Tchaikovsky is presented by Morrison as he was. . . . His art, directly expressive and self-controlled, emerges from this book’s pages as an abiding retort to the Romanticism of his times.”-Nestor Castiglione, Music Web International

“This biography of Russia’s greatest composer has many virtues. . . . What Simon Morrison does brilliantly is to place the composer and his music within the context of his times, while also portraying the man himself as both more complex and joyful than the caricature suggests.”-Jim Kelly, Air Mail

“Morrison excels at uncovering hidden facts and unknown details. An example is the explanation of the notorious quarrel between Tchaikovsky and Nikolay Rubinstein over the merit of the First Piano Concerto. According to Morrison, the chief culprit was Rubinstein’s exceptional state of sobriety at that moment. Such details are a joy to read.”-European History Quarterly

“Weaving in personal letters and concert reviews, Morrison creates a vibrant picture of the eastern-European performing-arts scene of the late 19th century.”-Zuzanna Lachendro, New Statesman

“A rounded portrait backed by wide-ranging knowledge and research. The result is a genuinely new and vivid view of an oft-misunderstood composer.”-Henrietta Bredrin, Country Life

“This book challenges the conventional view of ‘Russia’s Greatest Composer,’ presenting him in a wholly new light and debunking the conspiracy theorists.”-The Oldie

“Illuminating. . . . Enhanced by Morrison’s lively and consistently engaging prose style.”-BBC Music Magazine

Awarded Presto Music Book of the Year 2024

Winner of the Reginald Zelnik Book Prize in History, sponsored by ASEEES

“Tchaikovsky has often been treated as a tragically autobiographical figure, but Morrison’s Tchaikovsky is a brilliantly diverse and supremely energetic virtuoso. Morrison’s writing-entertaining, authoritative, witty-shares this infectious energy.”-Alastair Macaulay, critic and historian of the performing arts

“A page-turner demystifying the composer about whom we thought we knew everything. Morrison masterfully situates Tchaikovsky both within his Russian imperial and his cosmopolitan existences, revealing a contented person and an unexpectedly pragmatic artist.”-Elena Dubinets, artistic director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra

“This is a dazzling book. Morrison shows us a funny, ambitious, fun-loving musical genius, loyal but ever alert to his own best interests, freed up from our voyeuristic fascination with private life and scrupulously restored to his own complex creative space.”-Caryl Emerson, author of The Life of Musorgsky

“Light-handed, clear-eyed and wonderfully vivid. Morrison lifts the sentimental veil that has settled upon the great Russian composer, sweeping away cliche to offer an immensely human, transparent portrait.”-Marina Harss, author of The Boy from Kyiv

“In his short life, Tchaikovsky covered a lot of ground, musically and geographically. Simon Morrison matches him in range and pace, shedding new light on the worlds in which he worked.”-Philip Ross Bullock, author of Pyotr Tchaikovsky