Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was the first Russian composer to be admired internationally because of the beauty of the melodies in his compositions. He is best known in the United States for the excitement in his 1812 Overture, composed in 1880 and played through the US on New Year’s Eve. He wrote this last symphony, his sixth, in 1893 and had it played days before he died. He called it Pathetique, which in Russian means passionate, an optimistic term. But a Frenchman mistranslated the word with a negative term meaning “evoking pity.” Many today accept the French mistranslation.
My favorite philosopher is Maimonides (1138-1204). Many misunderstand this rationalist and think he was a mystic.
Life is filled with mistakes, irony, and humor.
I just attended a Tchaikovsky nutcracker ballet at a theater. I think it’s the most creative music of all time. A computer couldn’t generate it. It surpasses Madama Butterfly. Yet the critics degraded it. Just as Maimonides’ critics disliked his philosophical works and burnt his books.
I like the 1812 Overture. Beethoven’s Wellington’s Victory symphony is good. Wagner is good but he was an antisemite. The Russians are very cultured.
We agree again.