Tchaikovsky and the secret gay lov censors tried to hi | Pyotr Tchaikovsky | The Guardian

Contents:

• SORRY, RSIA, BUT TCHAIKOVSKY WAS DEFELY GAY
• TCHAIKOVSKY AND THE SECRET GAY LOV CENSORS TRIED TO HI
• WAS TCHAIKOVSKY GAY? HOW RSIA SPENT A CENTURY HIDG THE POSER’S SEXUALY
• TCHAIKOVSKY UNVERED: THE SECRET GAY LIFE OF A LEGEND
• TCHAIKOVSKY MAY HAVE BEEN GAY, PUT RELUCTANTLY ADMS
• TCHAIKOVSKY NOT GAY? HERE'S SOME MORE MIL SHOCKS FOR YOU
• TCHAIKOVSKY WAS NOT GAY, SAYS RSIAN CULTURE MISTER
• GAY LOVE-LETTERS OM TCHAIKOVSKY TO HIS NEPHEW BOB DAVIDOV
• PUT: TCHAIKOVSKY WAS GAY? SO WHAT?
• PUT: TCHAIKOVSKY WAS GAY BUT RSIANS LOVE HIM ANYWAY
• ‘WHO MA TCHAIKOVSKY GAY?’ (A REVISNIST QUTN)
• PUT’S PRI? SIX FAMO GAY SONS OF RSIA
• DID THIS LEGENDARY GAY RSIAN COMPOSER COMM SUICI?

SORRY, RSIA, BUT TCHAIKOVSKY WAS DEFELY GAY

Yuri Arabov told a Rsian newspaper that his adaptatn of the 19th century poser's life won't foc on his sexualy bee “ is far om a fact that Tchaikovsky was a homosexual, " The New York Tim also said that films that "advertise" homosexualy are "outsi the sphere of art, " and that only "philist" thk the poser was gay.

Well, sorry Rsia, but Tchaikovsky — along wh dozens of other Rsian cultural ins — were gay, as many scholars would readily Tchaikovsky (poser)Tchaikovsky posed two of the most qutsentially Rsian ballets — Swan Lake and The Nutcracker.

Harry wr (emphasis add): The history of Tchaikovsky's homosexualy was supprsed Rsia by the Soviets, and has only recently bee wily known post-Soviet Rsia. For stance, Wiley pots out that Tchaikovsky was openly gay all his life, to the pot that he femised the nam of the young men he nsorted wh, and ed his own – signg a letter to his brother (who was also gay) "Petrola".

TCHAIKOVSKY AND THE SECRET GAY LOV CENSORS TRIED TO HI

In her review of the book for The New York Review of Books, Helen Muchnic laid out Karlsky's argument this way: His this, brief outle, is that Gogol, unable to be himself a world where homosexualy was proscribed, ncealed his clatns, attempted to supprs his emotns, projected his secretivens unnscly the ceptns, mystifitns, and symbols of his stori and plays, and ultimately broke down unr the stra, g his art and stroyg himself. Here's an excerpt om her 1924 poem "Dreams": Only dreams, wh a broken off moan, so as not to die her sleep, on such a mellifluo wave, above this sky-blue drowng, her whole cht heavg eely wh breath, my soul is published several llectns of poems until censorship unr the Soviet ernment emed her works "unlawful" Nabokov (brother of Vladimir Nabokov)Vladimir Nabokov, bt known for his 1955 novel Lola, was a known homophobe. Grossman wrote: Sergei’s homosexualy would st a long shadow over his strange and heroic life, and would also, ultimately, be the e of his horrifyg and untimely ath.

It st a shadow over Vladimir’s life as well: He loved his brother, but whatever else he may have been — a brilliant wrer, a lovg father — Vladimir was a nfirmed homophobe, and his gay brother was a nstant source of shame, nfn and regret to died a Nazi labor mp, while Vladimar went on to wre several novels. But until now some of the letters of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, which he tells of his sexual sir, have been hidn om the world bee the objects of those sir were other the letters have been published English for the first time, rtorg sensive passag about the poser’s homosexualy that had been leted by Rsian one, never before published Rsian or English, Tchaikovsky wrote of a young servant “wh whom I am more love than ever”, addg: “My God, what an angelic creature and how I long to be his slave, his playthg, his property!

WAS TCHAIKOVSKY GAY? HOW RSIA SPENT A CENTURY HIDG THE POSER’S SEXUALY

”Tchaiikovsky quoteIn another prevly omted passage, the poser told of a homosexual acquatance: “Petashenka ed to drop by wh the crimal tentn of observg the Cat Corps, which is right oppose our wdows, but I’ve been tryg to disurage the promisg viss – and wh some succs. They offer sights to the daily ncerns and timate thoughts of a poser whose masterpiec clu the ballets Swan Lake, The Sleepg Bety and The Nutcracker, and opera Eugene Oneg, as well as six symphoni and four book’s troductn not: “The central taboo ncerng Tchaikovsky’s life has been his homosexualy – the topic that has been barred om public discsn for almost a century … In the eye of the thori, would have been unthkable to accept [that] … Rsia’s natnal treasure was a homosexual. He studied unr Frank Bridge, John Ireland and Arthur Benjam among others, and was also a fe ground-breakg operas, which clu Peter Grim (1945), and The Turn of the Screw (1954) – and his famo War Requiem – tackle ntemporaneo issu around psychology and post-war trma, as well his own homosexualy, which was illegal Brten’s lifetime.

As well as beg one of the first openly gay posers full stop, Poulenc also didn’t chew his sexualy the ntext of his relig posns spanned om timate chamber sonatas wh sublime, twistg melodi and lite imprsnist harmoni (thk the 1957 Flute Sonata), to his Piano Concerto and epic one-act opera for soprano and orchtra, La voix humae. And like them, he was associated wh gay clergyman, Cardal Pietro Baroque poser and vlist is known for his chamber sonatas and ncerti grossi, and has gone down history for refg to play a sectn of Hanl’s orator, The Triumph Of Time And Tth, bee a vl note went higher than Corelli believed appropriate for the stment.

Unlike Copland, US poser Samuel Barber ma no effort to keep his homosexualy out of explic view and his life partner was poser Gian Carlo Menotti, who he studied wh at the Curtis Instute.

TCHAIKOVSKY UNVERED: THE SECRET GAY LIFE OF A LEGEND

Leonard Bernste also studied at the Curtis Instute wh Barber and Menotti (see above), and although he had an on-aga-off-aga relatnship wh actor Felicia Cohn Montealegre and eventually married her, he was openly gay. Montealegre herself wrote publicly about her book, The Bernste Letters, “you are a homosexual and may never change – you don’t adm to the possibily of a double life, but if your peace of md, your health, your whole nervo system pend on a certa sexual pattern what n you do? ” Bernste’s Wt Si Story llaborator Arthur Lrents is known to have lled Bernste “a gay man who got married”, statg, “He wasn't nflicted about at all.

Acrdg to bgrapher John Wiley, Tchaikovsky was openly gay all his life, femisg the nam of the young men he nsorted wh, as well as referrg to himself as “Petrola”. Author Konstant Rotikov, who has wrten a gay history of St Petersburg, said: “In the se of Tchaikovsky his homosexualy is so well documented by his own wrgs and the wrgs of others that is simply ludicro to suggt otherwise. That Tchaikovsky stggled wh prsn is well documented, but up until the last 20 years, his sadns was attributed to the mere fact of his homosexualy.

“We now have so many documented letters that his younger brother, Most – who was also gay – saved, but the fay didn’t release for que some time after his ath. To further cement this ia, ’s now clear that, acrdg to Anrson, Tchaikovsky had a close circle of gay iends and actually referred to his homosexualy personal rrponnce as “the most natural thg ever. In Tchaikovsky’s se, gay men have long upheld the ia that the angst, spair and sufferg emed so apparent his mic’s “melodic lyricism” n be directly traced to the stggle of a closeted gay man livg torture wh his secret.

TCHAIKOVSKY MAY HAVE BEEN GAY, PUT RELUCTANTLY ADMS

All of the elements have led to a great al of mythology surroundg his swan song, Sixth Symphony, Pathetique, which often gets characterized as eher a suici note, a portra of homosexual martyrdom, or some other form of gay tragedy. Vladimir Put has weighed on the sexualy of poser Pyotr Tchaikovsky, which is only dispute bee Rsia has bee creasgly homophobic, unwillg to adm that some of s greatt cultural ins were disputably article is om the archive of our partner. Vladimir Put has weighed on the sexualy of poser Pyotr Tchaikovsky, which is only dispute bee Rsia has bee creasgly homophobic, unwillg to adm that some of s greatt cultural ins were disputably gay.

We have absolutely normal relatns, and I don't see anythg out of the ordary here, " he others, however, see somethg far out of the ordary as Rsia be perhaps the most homophobic untry the Wtern world. The natn has bee aggrsively anti-gay thanks good part to laws Put signed to those laws, turn, have homophob rewrg history, erasg the supposed tat of homosexualy om Rsia's cultural herage.

TCHAIKOVSKY NOT GAY? HERE'S SOME MORE MIL SHOCKS FOR YOU

In the poser's se, filmmaker Yuri Arabov wants to celebrate his artistic mer wh a new film, but is planng to pletely ignore Tchaikovsky's homosexualy. In a recent terview, Arabov said only "philist" believe Tchaikovsky was the end, Put's answer do ltle to stem the ti of anti-gay sentiment, which he large part engenred.

Ptr Ilyich TchaikovskyWhile historians Rsia nied for centuri that Tchaikovsky was gay, Eastern voic recent years have e around to the notn the tenrns the poser's mic me om gay sir. Jean-Baptiste LullyThe liberte Lully was a poser, mician, and famed dancer the urt of France's Kg Louis XIV, where his gay sexualy was an open secret.

At one pot, he had a well-known affair wh royal mic page B, acrdg to Gee Haggerty's Encyclopedia of Gay Histori and Cultur, but the boy was imprisoned when the poser fell out of favor wh the kg. Freric ChopThe legendary 19th-century Polish poser wrote love letters to Tyt Wojciechowski that revealed his persuasn, acrdg to historian Michel Lariviere, and there is evince he had male lovers before that as well, cludg the openly and famoly gay Marquis Cte.

TCHAIKOVSKY WAS NOT GAY, SAYS RSIAN CULTURE MISTER

Franz SchubertWhile Schubert as a young man was fely known as a womanizer, he likely was bisexual, later livg many years wh gay poet Johann Mayrhofer. Francis Jean Marcel PoulencAn out poser early-20th-century France, Poulenc created mic opposg the homophobic Nazis durg the 1940s, acrdg to Daisy Falurt's L Six.

GAY LOVE-LETTERS OM TCHAIKOVSKY TO HIS NEPHEW BOB DAVIDOV

While not known for tolerance himself, Thomson was arrted 1942 durg a raid on a gay borllo near the Brooklyn Navy Yard, acrdg to bgrapher Anthony Tommasi. Photograph: © Bettmann/CORBISNews om Rsia's culture mister that Tchaikovsky almost certaly wasn't gay but jt a lonely man who failed to fd a suable woman is hardly the greatt shock the mil world has to al wh recently. The script was apparently revised to remove referenc that uld have ma vulnerable unr Rsia's ntroversial new "gay propaganda" film's screenwrer, Yuri Arabov, nied that Tchaikovsky was gay, and told the newspaper Izvtiya that the poser of Swan Lake and Sleepg Bety was "a person whout a fay who was stuck wh the opn that he supposedly lov men".

"Arabov is actually right – there is no evince that Tchaikovsky was a homosexual, " said Medsky, when asked by the Interfax news agency if the climate of homophobia Rsia was forcg film-makers to censor the issue. "In the se of Tchaikovsky his homosexualy is so well documented by his own wrgs and the wrgs of others that is simply ludicro to suggt otherwise, " said the thor Konstant Rotikov, who has wrten a history of gay Sat Petersburg. Gay men have taken to their hearts the mic of Ptr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-93) bee is perceived (rightly or wrongly) to nta all the longg and spair of homosexual angst a homophobic world.

PUT: TCHAIKOVSKY WAS GAY? SO WHAT?

Tchaikovsky's homosexualy was nied by Soviet milogists until fairly recently, and much material still remas to be retrieved om Rsian archiv and published English.

But Tchaikovsky was uneasy about his sexualy – unlike his brother Most, who was also gay, and who lived relatively openly wh his boyiend Nikolai (�Kolia�) Hermanovich Konradi (1868-1923), a af and dumb boy whom Most tutored and wh whom he lived for about seventeen years om 1876. Poznansky even pots out that there were other homosexuals the School of Jurispnce, such as the statman Vladimir Mhvsky, who was protected by the Tsar after beg nounced for scg a bugle boy the imperial marchg band, However, tryg to sce the son of Count Stenbok might well have been nsired more reprehensible and damagg to the public image of the School. Karlsky acknowledg that the Rsian law agast homosexualy – more specifilly, Paragraph 995 which prohibed mujelojstvo or anal terurse between men – was not very often enforced.

PUT: TCHAIKOVSKY WAS GAY BUT RSIANS LOVE HIM ANYWAY

In other words, homosexualy was neher legal nor rpectable Rsia, In any se Tchaikovsky�s own ments quoted at the begng of this say dite that a spicn of homosexualy was often ed to shame people. The Swiss milogist Aloys Mooser and the French scholar André Lischke were both rmed that Glazunov nfirmed that Tchaikovsky was homosexual and had mted suici, but Poznansky dismiss the acunts of Bertenson and others bee they were reported orally after their aths.

However, what is unniable is that Hanl socialized circl which homosexualy was an open secret, om the Italian and German urts to his artistic dr London. Though the poser wrote about his sexualy at length his letters to his brother Most (also gay), Tchaikovsky’s immense fame and fear of floutg social nventn preclud him om livg openly wh a male partner. Dpe myriad primary acunts that discs Tchaikovsky’s homosexualy, the Rsian ernment’s long history of anti-gay censorship has muddied the bgraphil waters Tchaikovsky’s beloved homeland.

‘WHO MA TCHAIKOVSKY GAY?’ (A REVISNIST QUTN)

His strong sense of inty manifted self arrangements and missns for several Amerin gay men’s chos, and he was regnized for his achievements by the Annual Gay/Lbian Amerin Mic Awards 1999. As AIDS rearcher and -founr of Gay Men’s Health Crisis Lawrence Mass noted, Harrison was “proud to be a gay poser and terted talkg about what that might mean. " While the history of Tchaikovsky's sexualy has been supprsed Rsia by the Soviets, newly disvered letters and diari provi evince that the poser, who died 1893, was ed also mentned that he often works wh gay people, spe his untry's ban on so-lled LGBT propaganda, which he signed to law.

PUT’S PRI? SIX FAMO GAY SONS OF RSIA

MOSCOW (Rters) - Rsia’s pri poser Pyotr Tchaikovsky, even though he was gay, is proof that the untry do not discrimate agast homosexuals, Print Vladimir Put said on was apparently seekg to ease ncerns that a new law banng “gay propaganda” will be ed to clamp down on gay rights. The law has been nmned abroad and brought lls om gay rights groups for a boytt of the 2014 Wter Olympic Gam opn polls show is backed by most Rsians and the measure is part a nservative urse charted by Put to nsolidate support followg protts agast his 13-year le. ”Asked whether he would meet members of the gay and lbian muny, Put said: “I assure you that I work wh the people, I sometim award them wh state priz.

”Put’s crics say the law is one of a strg of reprsive measur troduced by the former KGB spy the first year of his third printial term that clamp down on dissent, vlate gay rights and rtra non-ernmental cricism has overshadowed preparatns for the Sochi Olympics - a prry for Put, who wants to show Rsia as a morn state wh top-notch astcture. He was not surprised to read of the poser's homosexualy; many people were aware of , although no one talked about -- apparently Tchaikovsky was fiven everythg by his ner circle of admirers. Beckmann se the foregog as unsupported speculatn perpetrated by gay activists driven "to velop yet another rpectable peg on which to hang the hat of their aberratn.

As Stephen Fry poted out at the time, the law was so punive and extreme that: “Any statement, for example, that Tchaikovsky was gay and that his art and life reflects this sexualy and are an spiratn to other gay artists would be punishable by imprisonment.

DID THIS LEGENDARY GAY RSIAN COMPOSER COMM SUICI?

It’s believed referenc to Tchaikovsky’s homosexualy uld have ma the film vulnerable to the untry’s anti-gay propaganda laws, and so were removed om the origal script.