Tchaikovsky: The Years of Wandering, 1878-1885

The third volume of what is, unquestionably, proving to be a definitive biography covers the years in which Tchaikovsky was struggling to recover from the devastating experience of his marriage. During those years he retreated into an existence as solitary as he could make it, supported only by his intimate family and his closest friends. Much of the time he withdrew to his sister's home in the Ukraine, or to one of the country estates of his strange benefactress, Nadezhda von Meck. Or he would depart from Russia on restless and rootless wanderings in Germany, France, Italy; and would write to his brother Modest, "What a delight to be able to take a walk without being afraid of meeting people I know.Yet Dr. Brown observes, it is during this period that Tchaikovsky is perhaps at his most exposed: in his responses to ordinary situations we can most clearly see his idiosyncrasies and rapidly changing moods, his likes and dislikes, his kindness and compassion, his openhanded generosity and calculating deviousness, his gentle but constant envy of those whose sexual nature permitted them the experience of normal family life.Musically, these were the years of The Maid of Orléans and Mazepa, the second piano concerto, the three orchestral suites, the piano trio, the Italian Capriccio and the Manfred symphony. Once again a most valuable feature of this critical biography is Dr. Brown's detailed exposition and analysis of each of the new compositions.And on the human side the book is wholly absorbing. Once again, too, Dr. Brown has been able to draw upon the fullest text ever published of some of Tchaikovsky's particularly revealing letters, suppressed before publication in the Soviet Union but recently smuggled out of Russia.