Changes in views Candidate of
Art History Olga Zakharova described the issue of
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's religious views as "one of the most difficult and controversial topics in musicology, eliciting directly opposing interpretations", attributing this to variations in the composer's statements across different periods of his life. Candidate of Art History Antonina Makarova highlighted the evolution of Tchaikovsky's religious views throughout his life. This issue was a central focus of her
dissertation,
Mysterial Prototypes in the Operatic Works of P. I. Tchaikovsky, defended in
Magnitogorsk in 2017. She succinctly outlined this evolution as follows: "from childhood
faith in God" through "
skepticism of youth", "an acute confrontation with
worldview questions during the crisis years of 1877–78", to "finding a certain balance in the worldview sphere and spiritual support in faith".
Childhood The composer's family was religious. Two revered
icons from the family are preserved to this day in the
Tchaikovsky House-Museum. One of them, the
Virgin of Vladimir, is associated with a family legend about the miraculous recovery of Tchaikovsky's elder brother
Nikolai from a severe illness. Two other family icons were in
Tchaikovsky's house in Klin at the time of his death. One,
Apostle Peter (made in 1841), is located in the study-living room, and the other, the
Our Lady of Kazan (by which he was
blessed in childhood), is
in the bedroom. Tchaikovsky carefully preserved his mother's
Psalter and a collection of
stichera and
canons, which bear inscriptions in her handwriting. The composer was raised as an
Orthodox Christian. Several generations of his ancestors were clergy. His
godfather, who also taught
Catechism and Russian, was
archpriest Vasily Blinov of the Kamsko-Votkinsk Annunciation Cathedral. Tchaikovsky's childhood poems in Russian and French were addressed to God. He admired the omnipotence of the Almighty, who created "a beautiful world,
Russia, and the
Russian people". Worship was perceived as a natural and integral part of his life: "When I was a boy ... for several years I sang the first voice in a
trio that, during episcopal services, is sung by three boys in the
altar at the beginning and end of the service. The
Liturgy, especially during episcopal services, made a profound poetic impression on me...How proud I was then to participate in the service with my singing!" Some of the composer's childhood literary works have survived, imbued with religious and mystical experiences. Tchaikovsky's first biographer, his brother
Modest, when publishing these poems in his own Russian translation, noted that "all these works are completely talentless". Candidate of Art History Georgy Kovalevsky called this judgment overly categorical and traced the influence of
Psalm 103 in Tchaikovsky's poems."O eternal God of ours! You have done all this, Child! Look at these beautiful plants. These roses and veronicas are so beautiful. The brilliant sun illuminates the whole world. It created all of this. The moon and stars light up our nights. Without Thee, bread could not grow. The waves of these beautiful waters... We would die without them. The seas whose pull is so great. The rivers that surround them. Mother, nourish! Nourish your children. God created them. Mighty God, Thee are so worshiped!Modest Tchaikovsky recounted in the first volume of ''P. I. Tchaikovsky's Life'' that in the composer's childhood notebooks, letters, and drawings, "the word
God appears most frequently, sometimes plainly, sometimes in a
vignette". Refuting the idea that this was merely a child's
calligraphy exercise, Modest cited his brother's poems addressed to God. One poem begins with an invocation for God to always protect Russia."Lord! Be with our beloved Russia always. We will never forget you, and we will always believe in the Trinity. God be with us. You are God. You are God, and you will always be our God. You gave us intelligence and everything we need. So, Lord, to all Russians..."Doctor of Art History Galina Sizko noted that Tchaikovsky's love for God was intertwined with patriotism. She cited Modest Tchaikovsky's account of the composer's French
governess Fanny Dürbach. Dürbach caught the young boy kissing the territory of Russia on a
geographic map while spitting on other countries. When she remarked that other nations also pray to God with the
Lord's Prayer, and that she herself was French, the boy replied that he had covered France with his hand. Modest Tchaikovsky attributed his brother's interest in religious matters to the influence of Fanny Dürbach. He noted that the governess was a "strict
Protestant" who placed great importance on
morality. Alexander Poznansky wrote of the significant influence of Protestantism and
German culture in Dürbach's hometown of
Montbéliard. Her godmother was the daughter of a local pastor.
Youth and maturity Since 1850, Tchaikovsky studied in the preparatory class of the
Imperial School of Jurisprudence, and later in the school itself. The school operated under a strict
barracks regime, softened only in 1856: there were
solitary confinement and
corporal punishment, students used to do military training, and wake up with
the sound of drums. Supervisors were officers, and there was a special position of student inspector, whose duties involved "watching, catching, punishing, and flogging". But there was also bullying not only of peers and younger students but also of some teachers. Among older students, smoking, drinking (and even
chronic alcoholism), and sexual relationships between students were common. Among the three subjects that the diligent Pyotr Tchaikovsky struggled with were
algebra,
geometry and
Catechism. A significant figure among the teachers was a religious Doctor of Theology and author of a
Sacred History textbook, Mikhail Bogoslovsky. He taught a range of subjects in the lower classes (interpretation of the
Old and
New Testament, Catechism) and upper classes (
church law,
logic, and
psychology). He combined refined attire with unkemptness, which even caused scandals. He condemned the fashionable disregard for church services among youths and their fascination with the theater, calling it "
demonic entertainment" and dances "the
devil's amusement". Nevertheless, students attended performances by French troupes at the
Mikhailovsky Theatre, ballets,
Italian operas, and the
Alexandrinsky Theatre. Many students, including Tchaikovsky's close friends Fyodor Maslov, Alexei Apukhtin, and Vladimir Taneyev, held progressive views. Senior researcher at the Tchaikovsky House-Museum in Klin, Doctor of Art History Galina Sizko, suggested that doubts about religion began to emerge after the death of Tchaikovsky's mother. She found evidence of this in a letter to Viktor Olkhovsky, written in 1854 (a few weeks after his mother's death) in the form of a parody of
Church Slavonic. American historian Alexander Poznansky noted that the closest church to the house where Alexandra Andreevna died was the Panteleimon Church, suggesting that a priest was summoned from there for her final rites. This, he argued, explained why Tchaikovsky frequently visited this church while in
St. Petersburg. Every year on his mother's birthday, the composer went to church to pray for her. However, citing psychological research, Poznansky believed that a child who loses a parent in early adolescence typically overcomes grief relatively quickly and faces no significant developmental issues thereafter. Galina Sizko wrote that Tchaikovsky's childhood religiosity had vanished by this time: religious themes disappeared from his letters, as did references to loved ones as
my angels, requests for blessings, or mentions of religious holidays in the family. One rare mention of church from 1861 appears as follows: "I deliberately went to the
parish church to see the impression that the manifesto had on the peasants". In the 1860s, the composer entirely lost the need for prayer or
fasting, and when he addressed religious topics in conversations, it was with
irony or, as Galina Sizko described in her 2003 article, a "blasphemous" tone. In 1863, Tchaikovsky visited
Optina Monastery with his friend Alexei Apukhtin, and in 1866, the
Valaam Monastery, but nothing is known from the composer about the impact of these visits on his feelings or thoughts regarding religion. While at
Valaam, however, Tchaikovsky and Apukhtin witnessed an event that deeply affected the composer: parents, after a year of searching, found their only son in the monastery, but despite their pleas, he refused to leave. In her 2019 book, Galina Sizko linked the absence of immediate reactions to these monastery visits in Tchaikovsky's letters and diary to the "profound and deep impressions" they left. She cited a letter to his brother Modest, written 30 years after visiting Optina Pustyn, in which he described the "poetic impressions" from the trip. She noted that Tchaikovsky was so frightened by the sight of
saints' relics in the
Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra that he refused to continue the tour of the caves with his relatives. The next stage in the development of Tchaikovsky's religious views, as described by Makarova and Sizko, was marked by "a certain frivolity combined with a degree of irony". As an example, Makarova cited Tchaikovsky's visit to the
Trinity-Sergius Lavra between 1869 and 1872 with a group of friends (Rubinstein, Pyotr Jurgenson, Nikolai Kashkin, Nikolai Hubert, Ivan Klimenko). Ivan Klimenko recounted: when approaching the relics of
Sergius, Tchaikovsky, to amuse his friend, whispered an
impromptu: "When I saw Sergius's relics, / I dropped my earrings in the
shchi." Another impromptu was whispered in the
sacristy when the bishop showed them
panagias: "The priest and
deacon in panagias / Dance a pas naked". Klimenko noted about the trip to the
lavra: "We had a very cheerful time and returned just as cheerfully". Makarova concluded: "The composer felt neither reverence for the sacred relics nor even
superstitious fear. Faith in God and all that accompanied it was of little relevance to him during those years". Galina Sizko assessed these events differently, mentioning only the composer's schoolboy antics and childish pranks. Olga Devyatova wrote that during this period, Tchaikovsky succumbed to the
materialist views dominant in the 1860s–1870s and treated the
Orthodox Church, its theoretical
dogmas, and mandatory
rituals formally. File:Optina Pustynia and Zhizdra River's flood.jpg|Optina Pustyn File:Kaikkien Pyhien skiitta.jpg|
Skete of Valaam Monastery File:Trinity view.jpg|Trinity-Sergius Lavra File:Киево-Печерская лавра панорама.jpg|Kiev-Pechersk Lavra
Crisis in the mid-1870s Antonina Makarova associated the next stage with the mid-1870s, linking it to the growing "moral suffering" stemming from Tchaikovsky's awareness of his
sexual orientation. A pivotal event was his unsuccessful marriage. During this period, his letters mention the possibility of retreating to a monastery and attending
mass at
St. Isaac's Cathedral, which he connected to a "need for prayer" (this occurred in July 1877, when Tchaikovsky arrived in
St. Petersburg to introduce his fiancée
Antonina Milyukova to his father). Tchaikovsky frequently wrote to various correspondents about
Providence, which he believed watched over him. Olga Zakharova identified multiple and varied reasons for Tchaikovsky's turn to religion. She highlighted the growing interest in religion within Russian society and two personal factors: his failed marriage and the unexpected financial support from
Nadezhda von Meck, which he saw as the hand of Providence, as well as his hope that religion could help overcome his sexual inclinations, which he felt hindered his personal happiness. Galina Sizko explained Tchaikovsky's changing attitude toward religion with two reasons: • His creative abilities reached their peak (this period saw the creation of
Eugene Onegin and the
Fourth Symphony), sharply contrasting with the
severe psychological crisis he was experiencing. According to Sizko, Tchaikovsky saw this as "God's benevolent providence". • The appearance of a
patron in Nadezhda von Meck. Sizko argued that Tchaikovsky interpreted this event in the spirit of folk wisdom: "God may not help directly, but He sends a person". In a letter to Nadezhda von Meck dated October 30, 1877, Tchaikovsky wrote that his mind "stubbornly refuses to accept the truth of the
dogmatic aspects of Orthodoxy and all other Christian denominations". He rejected the justice of
God's judgment and admitted to a lack of belief in
afterlife, as he was "completely captivated by a
pantheistic view of the future life and immortality". Yet, in the same letter, he wrote of "childhood habits and poetic notions about everything related to
Christ and His teachings", which compelled him to "involuntarily turn to Him in prayer during sorrow and with gratitude in happiness". Makarova argued that Tchaikovsky's religious views at this time were "at the intersection of traditional Orthodoxy and pantheistic notions of the unity of God and nature, akin to the philosophical concepts of
Spinoza". He sought to compensate for religious contradictions with philosophical ideas. Olga Zakharova characterized this period as one of "religious sentiments" and "seeking reconciliation [with God]". Tchaikovsky's contemporary Dmitry Kaigorodov dedicated a short book to analyzing Tchaikovsky's texts about nature (especially Russian nature) but found no hint of the composer's pantheism. However, when confronted with attempts by someone close to him, such as Nadezhda von Meck, to construct an independent worldview system entirely devoid of religious faith, Tchaikovsky adopted a far more traditional religious stance. In a letter to von Meck responding to her radical views on religion, he wrote that he retained poetic impressions of the church from childhood, frequently attended mass, and loved the
All-Night Vigil. He stated that his reason told him there was no afterlife, but his "feeling and
instinct" demanded its acknowledgment. Makarova noted that Tchaikovsky was aware of his lack of a fully formed stance on religion. She argued that "the emotional upheavals and the acquisition of conscious religiosity in 1878 served as an impetus for the mysterial interpretation of the plot of
The Maid of Orleans. Olga Devyatova described Tchaikovsky's views on religion during this period: "Tchaikovsky is a typical romantic: searching, doubting, perpetually dissatisfied, understanding the possibility of a materialist worldview with his reason, but not abandoning
idealistic views, faith in God, in humanity's divine purpose, and other idealistic ideas in his eternal search". Galina Sizko characterized Tchaikovsky's religious views at this time as contradictory, belonging to a person "who respects believers, loves the
church, yet is full of doubts and does not unequivocally count himself among the faithful". For her, this period in the composer's life was a time of "returning to thoughts of faith and God". Soviet musicologist
Andrey Budyakovsky noted that in 1880, despite having no interest in the works of French playwright
Pierre Corneille or his contemporaries, Tchaikovsky admired his tragedy
Polyeucte, "which celebrates duty, devotion to the monarchy and the church", particularly the "experiences and transformations" of the character Felix, who becomes a Christian in the final act. Even the ''Children's Album'' (1878), intended for a young audience and depicting the world of children's games, opens and closes with two pieces of an elevated and solemn character —
Morning Prayer (No. 1) and
In Church (No. 24). Doctor of Art History and senior researcher at the Russian Institute of Art History, Arkady Klimovitsky, wrote in his article
Tchaikovsky and the Silver Age, that in 1879, Tchaikovsky became fascinated with the works of Russian religious philosopher
Vladimir Solovyov and the
jurist and historian
Boris Chicherin, who shared similar religious views. In a letter to
Nadezhda von Meck on October 12, 1879, Tchaikovsky, influenced by Solovyov's
Critique of Abstract Principles, wrote with admiration: "Matter has no objective existence and is merely a phenomenon, i.e., the result of the action of our senses and mind. What truly exists is only our cognitive faculty, i.e., reason". The researcher argued that the influence of
symbolism, characteristic of the Silver Age, can be found in Tchaikovsky's opera
Iolanta and ballet
The Nutcracker. Both works are marked by a particular spirituality, sublimity, and a certain ambiguity. They include scenes without external action, focusing on "previously unnoticed details of the emotional sphere and psychology of the characters". Klimovitsky characterized these works as religious-pantheistic
utopias.
Last decade Antonina Makarova associated the next stage of Tchaikovsky's religious views with the 1880s. During this period, he found spiritual support in faith and overcame the spiritual contradictions that had troubled him. Tchaikovsky became engrossed in the 'practice of religious life": he frequently discussed worship and church music, comparing Orthodox services with other Christian denominations. In a letter to von Meck, he wrote: "Hourly and minutely, I thank God for giving me faith in Him. With my faint-heartedness and tendency to fall into despair from the slightest push, what would I be without faith in God and submission to His will?" In Diary No. 3, on May 6, 1884, Tchaikovsky described his experience at a service: "I attended mass. I was very receptive to religious impressions; I stood with tears in my eyes almost the entire time. The manifestation of simple, healthy religious feeling in ordinary people (a sick old man, a 4-year-old boy approaching the chalice on his own) always touches me deeply". In her dissertation, Makarova noted that a diary entry from September 21, 1887, reflecting on the suffering and death of his friend —Nikolai Kondratyev— reads: "How strange it was to read that 365 days ago, I was still afraid to admit that, despite the fervor of sympathetic feelings evoked by Christ, I dared to doubt His divinity". This entry leaves room for debate among researchers about Tchaikovsky's religious views in his final years. In the diary for that year, he wrote of a mystical experience that arose "suddenly and unexpectedly" in his soul (elsewhere, Makarova called it "a certain exceptional
existential experience"). Tchaikovsky spoke of his own "
symbol of faith" and a desire to "someday formulate it". Makarova suggested that he "possibly formulated this symbol of faith in a letter to
K. R. a month before his death". She considered the most significant aspect of Tchaikovsky's religious worldview in the late 1880s–1890s to be his admiration for the "
evangelical idea of divine love and mercy". She posited that the composer's "reconciliation" with God became the source of his "turn to a mysterial prototype in his final opera
Iolanta. Galina Sizko believed that the death of Tchaikovsky's senior colleague
Nikolai Rubinstein in March 1881 played a significant role in his turn to religion, even shaking his previous unequivocal denial of an afterlife. Sizko linked this period to the emergence of Tchaikovsky's interest in the themes of
sin and redemption. In his works, this was reflected in the prominence of flawed characters —Mazepa, Manfred, and Hermann— whom Tchaikovsky sought to justify through love. Makarova argued that Tchaikovsky's turn to faith was not the result of reflection but of "
divine revelation". Summarizing the stages of his religious development, she wrote: "Pyotr Ilyich walked his life path not without God, but with God in his soul, seeking Him, standing before Him, and experiencing His living presence in his life". In his life, he was guided by the evangelical moral ideal, and the worldview expressed in his works was "undoubtedly Christian". Galina Sizko noted that during this period, Tchaikovsky bore the heavy burden of "misfortunes, tragic errors, and
sinfulness". He keenly felt his outbursts of anger, unkind feelings during card games, and a need for
repentance and
redemption. He exclaimed: "Oh, what a monstrous person I am!" According to Sizko, this led to "turbulent spiritual growth" in the 1880s and early 1890s. His diaries particularly highlight Saturdays and Sundays when he attended services in the churches of Klin. Sizko noted that he visited all the city's churches:
Trinity Cathedral, Znamenskaya Church in Maydanovo, Assumption Church, Joy of All Who Sorrow cemetery church. He held special reverence for the in the village of
Klenkovo, where he always brought a gift. Sizko suggested this was linked to his special devotion to this icon. Sometimes he joined the choir, and occasionally moved between churches during a single service, as services in Klin were held at different times. During his trip to
Georgia, Tchaikovsky visited churches in
Tiflis, in the
Ottoman Empire he visited the
Sobor of Hagia Sophia in
Constantinople, and in European cities, he attended Russian churches and conversed with priests. In 1880, while in Italy, he visited
St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and the (where he attended a
Catholic service). Based on an analysis of Diary No. 8, Sizko concluded that "God became the measure of all things for Tchaikovsky". Tchaikovsky's
confessor until 1889 (the year of his death) was his Conservatory colleague
archpriest Dimitry Razumovsky. Sizko suggested that Tchaikovsky also sought spiritual guidance from the future abbot of the
Pskov-Caves Monastery, Methodius (Kholmsky). Among his frequent conversation partners in Klin was the priest Mikhail Izvekov. Locals recounted that Tchaikovsky once carried an unconscious Izvekov to his home. When the priest regained consciousness and asked where he was, Tchaikovsky replied, that he was in
paradise. The surprised Izvekov responded, "And what are you doing here, Pyotr Ilyich?" Georgy Kovalevsky noted that Tchaikovsky mentioned the popular preacher and healer
John of Kronstadt only once. He cited a diary entry where John is mentioned alongside "card games and Bible reading": "At dinner, Sasha spoke about the priest Fr. Ivan, who is now performing miracles in Petersburg. A game with five players: I was no lucky at all and got terribly angry. And I've just read
the First Book of Samuel".
When Tchaikovsky was dying, his brother Nikolai sent for a priest from St. Isaac's Cathedral to administer
confession and
communion with the Holy Gifts. The priest found Tchaikovsky unconscious and "read only the departure prayers loudly and clearly, of which, apparently, not a single word reached his [Tchaikovsky's] consciousness". After Tchaikovsky's death, numerous
panikhidas were held, and on October 28, 1893, after a
funeral service at
Kazan Cathedral, he was buried at the
Tikhvin Cemetery in
Alexander Nevsky Lavra. The funeral was conducted by Bishop of Narva Nikandr, with excerpts from Tchaikovsky's
Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom performed, including
I Believe and
We Sing to You. Post-1887 (13 June 1893) According to the Candidate of Art History Olga Zakharova, the only the period from 1884 to the first half of 1887 can be characterized as the
orthodox. She saw evidence of this "orthodoxy" in the composer's drastic change of lifestyle and residence: he moved to
Moscow Region, regularly attended church (on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays), read the Bible in the mornings, and established a strict daily routine. In 1887, however, Zakharova identified a new turning point, linked to the prolonged and painful experience of staying by the side of his dying friend, Nikolai Kondratyev. The distinctive features of this final period, as outlined in her article, were a departure from several Orthodox traditions and the development of his own "symbol of faith". While reading
Lev Tolstoy's
What I Believe, Tchaikovsky highlighted passages criticizing the dogmas of resurrection and immortality, sharply criticized the dogma of retribution, and saw no purpose in prayers. Zakharova noted that this negative stance toward these dogmas is evident in Tchaikovsky's Bible annotations after 1887. Zakharova concluded that Tchaikovsky focused solely on the moral aspects of Christ's teachings, unable to overcome his doubts about dogma and, in her words, "generally moved away from Orthodoxy". She linked this shift to his refusal to create new works for church use, which occurred in 1887. According to Zakharova, Tchaikovsky leaned toward the religious position of
Ernest Renan and Baruch Spinoza, whose works he began to study diligently. She characterized this position as pantheistic but noted that, despite his efforts, Tchaikovsky could not fully formulate the symbol of faith he had hoped to articulate. Zakharova observed that Tchaikovsky agreed with Spinoza's view of the earthly origin of the ideas of
goodness,
evil, sin, and
righteousness. She argued that, following Spinoza, he also rejected the idea of "
God's incarnation". In his final years, Tchaikovsky became engrossed in the works of French writer
Gustave Flaubert. According to Zakharova, he shared Flaubert's views on the fallacy of the dogma of redemption and the inherent insolubility of the "fateful questions of existence", which traditional religions and nearly all philosophical systems attempt to answer. Zakharova noted the influence of these views on Tchaikovsky's secular works from this period. On one hand, the central theme became love and forgiveness. On the other, these works are distinctly divided into "light" ones (
The Sleeping Beauty, Iolanta), with fairy-tale plots far removed from reality, embodying Tchaikovsky's striving for the Absolute, and "dark" ones (
The Queen of Spades, Sixth Symphony), dominated by doubt and negation. Zakharova's perspective is not new or original. As early as 1968,
Soviet art historian Nadezhda Tumanina wrote: "By the late 1880s, faith for Tchaikovsky was not an adherence to traditional Christian religion. He had long abandoned the search for a renewal of Christian religion and embraced a religion of nature". In contrast, Doctor of Art History Galina Sizko noted that from 1887, influenced by the deaths of Nikolai Kondratyev and his 26-year-old niece Tatyana Davydova, Tchaikovsky began his manuscripts with an invocation to God: "Lord, bless!" and concluded with gratitude: "Lord, I thank You!" (in the
sketches for the Sixth Symphony), "Thanks to God!" (in the sketches for
The Queen of Spades), "Glory and thanks to God!" (
The Sleeping Beauty). Sizko quoted priest Mikhail Fortunato, who considered the
Sixth Symphony "the composer's spiritual testament, written by a man who believed in Christ's divinity and
resurrection". She shared Fortunato's view on Tchaikovsky's use of rhythmic and intonational elements of the Orthodox
Trisagion in the introduction to the First Movement and the Troparion of Christ's Resurrection in the
march theme of the Third Movement. Sizko wrote that in these years, "Tchaikovsky outwardly seemed to step away from Orthodoxy", but explained his interest in Spinoza and Renan as mere curiosity, as well as the impulsiveness and contradictory nature of the composer. == Tchaikovsky's religious compositions ==