Paul Kildea

Introducing Tchaikovsky the merry scamp

Rescuing the composer from his tortured image, Simon Morrison presents him as a sort of Till Eulenspiegel character, laughing and pranking his way through life

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. [The Print Collector/Getty Images] 
issue 24 August 2024

  • Tchaikovsky’s Empire: A New Life of Russia’s Greatest Composer

    Simon Morrison

    Yale, pp. 384, £25

Some years ago, following a Christmas performance of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, I sat in one of the dives near the theatre with a member of the corps de ballet, the gay son of close friends. The audience had been populated largely by children and teenagers, most of whom were either smitten by the intrepid, empathetic Clara or wanted to be her.

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