I was gonna add a whole paragraph of end notes but decided against it, so if you're curious on any historical evidence or Classi9 universe stuff, read this post!
I wanna preface this by saying I am disgustingly educated in Tchaikovsky's real life and it's very interesting to me overall. These are just some little notes I wanted to add/elaborate on:
This letter to von Meck offers a look into Tchaikovsky's personal life ranging from his family, his failed marriage, and musical endeavors. A lot about his family though.
Letter 659 to Nadezhda von Meck
Also, it's worth mentioning these two photographs:
Tchaikovsky and Kotek vs Tchaikovsky and his wife, Antonina Miliukova
#iHateMyGF final boss or something
"Kotik" is a nickname Tchaikovsky had for Kotek, which translates to "little cat"/"kitten" and is used to affectionately refer to a male partner or loved one. In letters to his brother, Tchaikovsky would use "Kotik" to refer to Kotek. The first letter describes this almost "honeymoon stage" of their relationship, then the next letter describes this love being "subdued," and finally the third is where he is conflicted on what he feels for Kotek.
Letter 538 to Modest Tchaikovsky
Letter 568 to Modest Tchaikovsky
Letter 779 to Anatoly Tchaikovsky
The whole fear of head falling off thing is true! For much of his early career, the real Tchaikovsky actually hated conducting and had intense stage-fright. Later in life, when other composers conducted their own works (Wagner, Brahms, Strauss, Mahler just to name a few), he took up conducting again and not only did his head not fall off, his career as a conductor took off and well, he went on tour across Europe and even came to America. Neat, huh?
This article details more about his career as a conductor and the head-falling-off phobia.
I wasn't sure of who to pick to sort of walk in on this scene, and looking back on it now that it's finished, it should've been Mozart but I misread the manga panel. In chapter 4, I thought it was Bach who said "have you forgotten that thing about Tchaiko" and while I know he's probably referencing Tchaiko's whole freaky thing w the highkey sadism, I thought it could also be a reference to his closeted homosexuality. Y'know, something no one wants to say out loud but suspect, I mean Tchaiko was the only one that went on a date w Rentaro WHEN HE THOUGHT SHE WAS A GUY!!! Also based on the real Tchaikovsky, that man is gay. Argue with the wall. Anyway, in the manga panel it is Mozart, but out of laziness (and I also just liked it being Bach anyway), I kept Bach.
This is set a year before Rentaro arrives which fortunately makes sense since during the manga, Tchaikovsky performs The Sleeping Beauty for the competition. Swan Lake was published in 1877, The Sleeping Beauty in 1890, and The Nutcracker in 1892, so adds up.
Also, a lot of Swan Lake was written while Tchaikovsky was involved with Kotek, so it's pretty likely a lot of the violin heavy movements were written with Kotek in mind. Just two years later in 1878, Tchaikovsky wrote a violin concerto where he heavily collaborated with Kotek and practically dedicated the work to him, but in the end decided against it.
Cool article about the origins of Swan Lake.
Anyway, you can do a whole lot of digging on this website! It's a fun rabbit hole to go down. Sucks for Tchaikovsky though... could you imagine your DMs getting leaked centuries later?
Ok bye thanks for reading if you read this far I love you and my soul is yours
i just wanted to draw mozart and then i kept getting mozart borthday psots on my timeline so rlly thi is perfect timing
ive spent like 10 minutes now tryingt o upload this as a gif to twt and it hasnt been working im gonna lose it
