Proms Plus: 'Queering' Tchaikovsky
Arts & Ideas
BBC
4.2 • 598 Ratings
🗓️ 12 August 2019
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tchaikovsky’s letters to his brothers and to his nephew - to whom his final Symphony, the Pathétique, is dedicated - are fascinating insights into the composer’s turbulent life and work. Though his sexuality has, in particular, long been a topic of speculation, it is only recently that many of these previously suppressed letters have come to light.
Shahidha Bari presents a selection of the most intimate, witty and revelatory ones, with readings by actor and writer Tom Stuart. She is also joined by composer and pianist Rolf Hind, who will discuss why a "queer" reading of the letters might help our understanding of Tchaikovsky and his contested legacy.
Producer: Ciaran Bermingham
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right? |
| 0:23.3 | It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's |
| 0:27.5 | out of ice cream. |
| 0:28.8 | Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:33.3 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:37.2 | Thanks for downloading the BBC Arts and Ideas podcast. |
| 0:40.7 | The conversation you're about to hear picks up on themes inspired by the summer's BBC proms concerts. |
| 0:45.9 | If you're moved to listen to the music, you can find every concert broadcast on Radio 3 and BBC Sounds. |
| 0:52.0 | Now, over to the audience in the Imperial College Theatre |
| 0:54.5 | next to the Royal Albert Hall. |
| 1:03.7 | Hello and welcome to this evening's proms plus. |
| 1:06.1 | Tonight, to coincide with the performance of the Pateek, |
| 1:09.2 | we'll be exploring Chikovsky's letters, |
| 1:11.3 | many of which were only published for the first time in English last year. |
| 1:15.7 | Written in his mid-30s, when he was establishing himself as a composer, |
| 1:19.6 | some had been suppressed until recently because of what they reveal, or for many, confirm, |
| 1:24.7 | about his sexuality. Joining me to discuss them as the composer and pianist Rolf Hine, |
| 1:29.7 | and bringing the letters to life is the actor and writer Tom Stewart. |
| 1:34.0 | Rolf, we have an image of Chikovsky. |
| 1:36.6 | In Russia, he's quite a protected, even conservative hero, |
| 1:40.5 | whereas in the UK, our sense of him has sometimes included questions about his sexuality, |
| 1:45.6 | particularly in reference to his final symphony, the patateeke. What was your first experience |
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