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.

Author: Simon Morrison
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 08/27/2024
Pages: 384
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.40lbs
Size: 8.80h x 6.00w x 1.50d
ISBN13: 9780300192100
ISBN10: 030019210X
BISAC Categories:
- Biography & Autobiography | Music
- Music | Individual Composer & Musician
- History | Russia | General

About the Author
Simon Morrison is professor of music and Slavic languages and literatures at Princeton University. He has written numerous celebrated books on subjects ranging from Prokofiev and Russian opera to Roxy Music and Stevie Nicks.