实用艺术英unit 6 B.ppt

 1 Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky is remembered today as the greatest Russian composer ever. He wrote music which stands very clearly in the European tradition, but has a distinctly Russian flavor. He was a master of melody, setting glorious melodies against distinctively Russian rhythms in a way that probably nobody else has ever done. 2 There is no definitive spelling for Tchaikovsky’s name in the Roman alphabet that we use, since Russians use the Cyrillic alphabet. He is sometimes referred to as Pyotr Ilyich Chaikovsky. 4 Tchaikovsky’s subsequent career consisted of the production of huge amounts of quality music interspersed with nervous breakdowns. He was an extremely emotional person and suffered from numerous neuroses. For example, he was convinced that if he conducted an orchestra, his head would fall off. On the rare occasions when he had to conduct, he held his chin with his left hand throughout the performance. In later years he seems to have got over this particular phobia. Tchaikovsky was also a secret homosexual. At the time in Russia, this was considered a terrible crime and if found out, he would be stripped of all his possessions and deported to a Siberian labor camp. In 1876 he was approached by Antonina Milyukova, a former fellow student, who was quite clearly mentally unbalanced. She said that she loved him and would commit suicide if he did not marry her. Strangely, Tchaikovsky agreed, and the two were married. Perhaps Tchaikovsky thought he could “cure” himself of his homosexuality or perhaps he wanted the respectability of a wife as a front. But the relationship was doomed from the start; as a consequence, they were separated within nine weeks. 5 Also in 1876, Tchaikovsky entered into a strange relationship with a woman which brought an element of stability to his life. He was approached in writing by Nadezhda von Meck, a wealthy widow who wished to sponsor his musical talent. He accepted and proceeded for the next 14 years to converse