The Life and Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky

The author of this volume, Modeste Tchaikovsky, was, along with his twin Anatoly, the youngest of Tchaikovsky's siblings. He devoted his life to the arts, translating and writing plays, as well as librettos, several of them for his brother's operas and many for other composers. As Tchaikovsky's closest friend and confidant, Modeste became his first biographer and founded the Tchaikovsky Museum at the composer's country house in Klin. Modeste's biography of Tchaikovsky is considered the earliest comprehensive volume on the composer, even though portions of it were edited over the years by translators, as well as Russian and later Soviet censors. It nonetheless includes many of Tchaikovsky's letters and journal entries and offers a thorough insight into both the public and the private man.