Not less distressing was the episode of his marriage. Tschai kovsky married Antonina Ivanovna Milyukova on July 6, 1877, but the union proved an impossible one through no fault of hers but simply through his own abnormality of temperament ; and it resulted in separation in October.
Tschaikovsky, who was deeply affected, went abroad with his brother to recover and was restored in due course to a more satis factory state, but such happiness as he was to enjoy throughout the remainder of his career was qualified in an ever increasing degree by the tendency to melancholy and morbid introspection which, from the first, had been a conspicuous characteristic of his disposition.
Nor can it be said that he did not have many causes for dis comfort and disillusionment in the ill luck and indifferent appre ciation which attended in so many instances the performances of his works. But he continued to produce none the less with un checked ardour and the fourth symphony may be named among the other works which he composed during his period of recupera tion abroad.
Later, after his return to Russia, came the Italian Capriccio and the "1812" overture among other things. In 1879 he wrote his Maid of Orleans (produced in 188o) and his first suite for or chestra. In 1881 died Nicholas Rubinstein, to whose memory he dedicated the pianoforte trio in A minor. To the next five years belong the Manfred symphonic poem and the Hamlet overture fantasia, the operas Mazeppa and Charodaika, the "Mozartiana" suite and the big fifth symphony, of which even the last-named, though reckoned nowadays among his finest achievements, failed to elicit any great enthusiasm at first. Nor were the opera The Queen of Spades (which later vied with Eugen Onegin in popu larity) or the delightful ballet The Lake of Swans, The Sleeping Beauty and Casse-noisette any more favourably received when first produced, so far at least as the critics were concerned. Bet ter fortune, however, attended the Casse-noisette music in suite form which soon found unlimited favour and quickly established itself as one of the most popular pieces of its class ever written. (Incidentally, it may be noted that Tschaikovsky himself had the poorest opinion of this music when he was actually writing it.) But though, after the time honoured experience of genius, Tschaikovsky gained full appreciation so tardily in his own coun try, in foreign countries his claims were much more readily recog nized. In 1887 the first of several concert tours took him to Leipzig, Berlin, Prague, Hamburg, Paris and London, and won many warm friends for his music in every instance, not least so in London where he conducted the Serenade for strings and the Variations from the third suite at a Philharmonic concert.
Later, in 1891, he paid a visit to America, where he conducted six concerts—four in New York, one in Baltimore and one in Philadelphia—and again he was everywhere received with un bounded enthusiasm, the works performed being the Coronation March, the third suite, two sacred choruses, the B flat minor piano concerto and the Serenade for strings.
In 1893 Tschaikovsky sketched his sixth symphony, becoming more and more absorbed in his task as the work proceeded and more and more firmly convinced that it was the greatest thing he had ever done, a judgment subsequently confirmed in full measure by the world at large; for this was the symphony after wards known as the "Pathetic," and under that title destined to enjoy such world-wide fame and popularity as perhaps no similar work had ever known before. Yet even this symphony had a cold and indifferent reception on the occasion of its actual first per formance (on Oct. 28, 1893) at St. Petersburg, though in this instance the verdict was speedily reversed, both in Russia and elsewhere.
But the composer was not fated to witness and enjoy its triumphs. For within ten days of its production the world was shocked by the news of his wholly unexpected death—from an attack of cholera, caused by the drinking of unfiltered water— on Nov. 6, 1893.
As to the precise value of Tschaikovsky's music and the place which it is likely ultimately to take critical opinion has been sharply divided, but with a prevailing tendency to accord far less importance to his work than some consider its due. Almost in evitably the enormous popularity enjoyed by so many of his works at the hands of the general public has strengthened this tendency and the impartial student may well wonder if, even when the worst has been allowed, the process of critical belittlement which has been witnessed during recent years in the case of Tschaikovsky, has not gone far beyond the requirements of the case.
While his work as a whole may be unequal, there is in the finest of his orchestral compositions, which represent him at his best, a breadth and scope, a wealth of inspiration and imagination, and a command of his materials which may well secure for them a far greater measure of favour at the hands of posterity than is anticipated by some of his critics. How, indeed, the title of a great master can be denied to the composer of such things as the fifth and sixth symphonies, the "Francesca da Rimini" fantasia, the B flat minor piano concerto, and the pianoforte trio, it is indeed hard to understand. Tschaikovsky's operas are admittedly on a lower plane than the best of his orchestral writing, though containing many delightful pages, and much the same applies to the songs, albeit these also include many examples—he wrote over roo in all—of rare beauty and charm.
(H. A. Sc.)