It's sad to note that one of Russia's greatest composers, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, was also one of its most tragic. Tchaikovsky was quoted to have said, “The greater reason I have to be happy, the more discontented I become. … I suffer not only from torments which cannot be put into words, but from…an indefinable terror though of what the devil only knows.”
As a child, Tchaikovsky was found weeping at a concert, which he explained by saying he could not get the music out of his head. Indeed, it is hard to understand how the kind, sensitive man who entertained children with a sugar plum fairy could harbor such a dark and brooding soul.
Tchaikovsky had the ability to use his enormous musical talents to help offset his moods, but still he was often intensely unhappy, and his disposition soured even more with the death of his mother when he was 14. Despite his struggles, Tchaikovsky could find moments of peace by using music to exorcise his personal demons.
Join maestro Edo de Waart and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony at 8 p.m. May 13-14 and 2:30 p.m. May 15 in Uihlein Hall at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts
.Classical Happening
Windfall Theatre presents Green Sneakers, Ricky Ian Gordon's contemporary “opera for baritone, empty chair, string quartet and piano,” May 13-21 at Village Church Arts, 130 E. Juneau Ave.
