Over ten years, and in thousands of letters, Tchaikovsky was immersed in a secret relationship with a musical confident and financial benefactor.
Nadezhda von Meck, the wife of a wealthy engineer, became infatuated with Tchaikovsky’s music as well as the man himself. Meanwhile, She counseled him about how to get free of his wife of convenience.
More importantly, Nadezhda gave him feedback on his works-in-progress and provided him with the space and financial security that allowed him to compose without distraction — until, one day, they finally met in the woods on her estate… and the letter exchanges ceased, for a time.
It was a classical case of what might have been, in a different time. And Tchakovsky’s ambivance may well have inspired the under-current of sexual frustration in his love-torn opera Eugene Onegin.
Tchaikovsky (Almost) in Love is a multimedia play about all that and more, written in a classic verse mode that recalls Shakespeare.
Genre Bender
Historical Romance, Famous Composers, Verse Play
About The Author
Dr David P. Reiter is a multi award-winning poet, writer of fiction, digital artist and CEO of IP, an innovative print and digital publisher in Brisbane.
His first picture book, Real Guns, was illustrated by Irish artist Patrick Murphy. His Project Earth-mend Series of four children’s books includes The Greenhouse Effect, Global Cooling, Tiger Tames the Min Min and Tiger Takes the Big Apple. His second picture book, Bringing Down the Wall, illustrated by Sona Babajanyan, was 2014 Best Book for Teens & Kids (Canadian Children’s Book Centre).
As artist-in-residence twice at the Banff Centre for the Arts, he completed My Planets Reunion Memoir Project, which won the 2012 WA Premier’s Award.
He’s currently collaborating with co-author Trevor Todd on an animation series based on their Woody & Sir Humphrey Series.
An earlier play, Paul & Vincent, was performed live in Brisbane before being broadcast twice on Radio National of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
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