Tchaikovsky: The Quest for the Inner Man

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Summary: Book Description, Author Information
Review: "The one worthwhile biography of Tchaikovsky... not only a portrait of Tchaikovsky, but also a portrait of nineteenth-century Russia.... It is, all in all, a fabulous performance." -Richard Taruskin, The New Republic

"Comes like a fresh breeze through a stuffy room." -Times Literary Supplement

This monumental biography traces Tchaikovsky's relationship to the culture in which he lived and created. Drawing on the composer's correspondence and diaries, the author deciphers the often coded language that surrounded Tchaikovsky's passionate attachments.

Alexander Poznansky is a cultural and social historian, born and educated in Russia.

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Summary: Fascinating account of Tchaikovsky's life!! Great book!
Review: If you love Tchaikovsky, this is a wonderful book! Nowhere else will you get such a strong feeling of having known him personally and this biography also explains a lot about his incredible, emotional and passionate music. Alexander Poznansky, thanks to superb scholarship and exercise of fine editorial judgement in the use of Tchaikovsky's letters, diaries and the archival documents, has built up a picture of the "inner man", reliant, as far as possible, on fact and not supposition. This book would correct many misconseptions about Tchaikovsky the man, created by some misguided musicologists. This biography makes clear that he was not a tormented homosexual, nor did he fear exposure and nor is there anything but gossip behind the notion that he commited suicide. This is major book.

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Summary: Informative,persuasive,a real scholarly achievement!
Review: There is no doubts that Poznansky's book started a revolution not only in our view of Tchaikovsky the man but as well in our appreciation of his music. Gone is a decadent psychotic and a homosexual martyr together with his mysterious Russian soul. This familiar mythological figure is now replaced by a fully drawn individual in flesh and blood with his sublimities and his failures, haunted by contraditions, as all of us, but at the same time committed to make as much good in his life, in terms of both creative work and human relationship as he was capable of. The book contains mines of factual information;the author's conclusions are entirely convincing, drawn as they are from the careful examination of all available (at the time of his writing) documentary material.It is remarkable, as we learn from the author's Preface to the British edition, that his reconstruction of the passages in Tchaikovsky's correspondence, censured by the Soviet editors, proved extremely close to the originals which he found out after he was given access to Tchaikovsky's archives in Klin. Another virtue of this book is the demolition of the silly story, popular among some biographers, claiming that Tchaikovsky commited suicide in result of the so-called "court of honor" held by his former classmates Finally, this dramatic narrative of the great composer's life makes a first-rate read!

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Summary: Poznansky's book is incomplete
Review: There is nothing in my review that mentions Tchaikovsky's music, it is only about him as a man. So, if you're not interested in my thoughts concerning his sexuality, and what I think his thoughts were about women, you probably won't want to read the rest of this. Anyway, I read this book, and I found a great amount of information some of which I personally thought curiously interesting regarding some of Tchaikovsky's statements or behavior. That is what I liked about the book. However, what I found interesting, psychologically, wasn't commented on by Poznansky. I don't know how interested he is in psychology concerning Tchaikovsky, but I think it's important because his book is suppose to find out more about the man personally. There are many statements Tchaikovsky made where I asked myself, "What did he mean by that?". It was frustrating for me because Poznansky didn't respond to some of Tchaikovsky's remarks or behavior. We all know that Tchaikovsky lived a homosexual lifestyle. Before, I thought that he just didn't find women interesting, sexually. But, my thought in Tchaikovsky's case, is that his sexual choice was based on a whole lot more than mere sexual taste. I read many books on Tchaikovsky and books on psychology (I'm not a psychologist nor a writer). We know that he was extremely shy, nervous, afraid at times, sensitive to a fault and inhibited. His perception of women or the feminine was based on teaching, and the women he grew up with. I think he saw them as basically uninterested in sensuous pleasure and sex (except to make babies or money). He learned from school that boys enjoyed sex, and he played with his own kind. His father may have acted somewhat erotic, and sensitive Tchaikovsky picked up on it. I think Tchaikovsky's mother liked him when he was young and obedient, but later something changed between them when he tried to express himself. I think he may have had mixed feelings about his mom, but would never ever directly say it. Anyhow, I could go on, but I don't want to make this review too long. However, the KEY TO TCHAIKOVSKY IS HIS CHILDHOOD! I don't think he was born homosexual, but rather he was born with certain emotional qualities and personality traits. Anyway, I read the book a few years ago, and I don't want to read it again because I don't like the way Poznansky ignores some of the little things Tchaikovsky said or did. This information Poznansky has in his book of which he thinks irrelevant and offers no psychology, I personally find interestingly curious. Please correct me if my memory of the following is incorrect :

Tchaikovsky said something like the one good thing about his future wife was that she loved him like a cat, and that he needs to be in control. Why did he have to be in control? He also said that Maria Anderson looked like a cat, and I think he observed her rubbing herself against something or someone. Psychologically, an animal represents a physical or primal thought I think. It's physicality or sensuality.

Tchaikovsky put in his diary something about a woman with a gold filling, and he said that his manservant's girlfriend had nice looking teeth. In addition, he said she was pretty and delectable. Why did he write in his diary about a woman's gold filling? Psychologically, it could symbolize something sexual.

He said he loved his mom in a sick way. Maybe he meant that the best thing about her was her physical touch. He says that maternal or sexual, it makes no difference. I thought that was a strange thing to say. Also, the poem Lily of the Valley, Poznansky said it could be about a male lover. I could be wrong, but the poem could be about his mom.

At first, he was hesitant to see, be with or visit his niece. Then, he saw her playing a leg game with some guy, and after he saw her monstrous behavior (he was quite taken by surprise), he visited to see her even unexpectedly. Also, he talks about her special female organs to someone. Tchaikovsky didn't have to mention that.

Also, Tchaikovsky was watching two different types of animals playing together. I think he made a comment that he was surprised to see it. I think he liked the idea of what he saw, and I personally think the two different animals he saw playing represented for him a man and a woman.

I can't make this review too long, so I will stop with my list. One last thing, I think Tchaikovsky's "inclinations" was not about homosexuality in particular. Tchaikovsky may have meant that he was a very physical, sensual person in general. I personally think that if a particular woman came into his life, he would have wanted her sexually, but without consequences. Anyhow, I don't remember Poznansky making any effort to analyze this specific information he puts in his book. I think Poznansky said that Tchaikovsky didn't want sex with women. Well, that's not good enough for me. Sometimes when people have difficulty expressing themselves, like Tchaikovsky, what they say can be more interesting than what they actually do. * Please reply to my review. If you want, I will talk to you and tell you more of what I think about Tchaikovsky.

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Summary: A Reply To Your Review
Review: This is in response to the first reviewer. I would contact you by email to say these things, but you left none, and in the face of your overwhelming gall I could not stop myself from posting this reply. What a ridiculous blowhard you are. You sound like a freshman psych major who hasn't read past Freud yet (whose theories on childhood are largely dismissed by modern psychology by the way). I find it hard to believe that you actually believe your own propaganda. The conslusions you extrapolate from snippets of Tchaikovsky's writings isolated from their original context are no better than the conlusions Miss Cleo the Psychic might produce if I told her my dreams. You sound like a homophobe projecting his dogma onto the text. Your review and your obvious need for Tchaikovsky to have been heterosexual says more about you than what's actually on the page in this novel.

As for my review, I'll just say that as far as biographies of Tchaikovsky go, this seems to be the best available on Amazon if you're looking for a narrative of a life, with the music & the myths only mentioned in service to his life story.