This is a marvelous book about Tchaikovsky compiled of diary entries from his contemporaries with commentaries and analysis by Alexander Poznansky. It is the best kind of biography that makes him seem very real, coming to life off the page. It begins in his school years and continues with a variety of rare diaries and letters of people who came in contact with him and kept journals or notes. It covers the entire social range from princes to valets, so we get quite a variety of observations from the intellectual esoteric to the very "earthy." We see not only Tchaikovsky the great composer, but also the student, the philosopher, the scholar, the workman, the card player, the bon vivant, the unsuitable suitor. It also includes explanations and diaries of his ill-fated marriage and many details of his rich personal life. The conflicts and turning points of Tchaikovsky's career and life are well illustrated. Each chapter is chronologically organized with often the inclusion of several diarists, most of whom are included in the copious illustrations. Poznansky begins each chapter with a biographical essay describing the importance of the contributor and the events of Tchaikovsky's life. The comprehensive scholarship is impeccable and the style superb. Poznansky is one of the only serious scholars, who can put together a well researched biography with style, flair and clarity that will satisfy the most stringent musicologist, while also entertaining and moving any Tchaikovsky admirer.
