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TCHAIKOVSKY'S LAST DAYS

Name: TCHAIKOVSKY'S LAST DAYS
Author: Alexander Poznansky
ISBN: 0-19-816596-X

A DOCUMENTARY STUDY

by Alexander Poznansky ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1996

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Do we really need a whole book that documents Tchaikovsky's final illness and rails against the theory that he committed suicide? Poznansky, author of an unsatisfying 1991 Tchaikovsky biography, assembles much of the relevant evidence here but fails to shape it into either a commanding argument or an involving narrative. Scornful of speculation that the composer took his own life to avoid a homosexual scandal, Poznansky contends that Tchaikovsky was comfortable with his homosexuality in later years; that a gay lifestyle was no great problem in upper-class, artistic Russian circles; and that the powers-that-be would have protected the great composer from any serious repercussions. The bulk of the book is a week-by-week chronicle of Tchaikovsky's last month (October 1893), chiefly presented through underedited excerpts from letters, diaries, memoirs, and newspaper reports. Poznansky points out that the composer was busy and cheerful, making future plans, prior to falling ill with cholera. He scoffs at ``idle and naive'' debate about the `` `secret' programme'' behind the Sixth Symphony (the ``PathÇtique''), which premiered two weeks before the composer's death. And he finds nothing improbable in the sketchy, inconsistent record of Tchaikovsky's illness, noting that he was hardly the only aristocrat to succumb during that period. Finally, the rumors of self-annihilation and coverup—including the familiar ``Russian roulette'' tale of Tchaikovsky insisting on drinking a glass of unboiled water—are elaborately, if not conclusively discounted. (He attributes such rumors to a bohemian milieu ``fraught with a peculiar mixture of philistinism and libertinage and singularly prone to the perpetuation of all manner of gossip and real or imagined psychodramas.'') Future biographers will appreciate the gathering of materials here, some of which Poznansky discovered in Russian archives. Non- scholars—aside from those with special interest in cholera—will find this an unengaging patchwork, without enough texture, drama, or ingenuity to hold the documentary pieces together. (20 illustrations, not seen)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-19-816596-X

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Oxford Univ.

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.