Modest Ilyich was born in
Alapayevsk,
Verkhotursky Uyezd,
Perm Governorate, the younger brother of the composer
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. He graduated from the
Imperial School of Jurisprudence with a degree in law. In 1876, Modest became the tutor to a deaf-mute boy Nikolai ("Kolya") Hermanovich Konradi (1868–1922) and, using a special teaching method, helped him to talk, write, and read. In his still unpublished autobiography, broadly quoted by
Alexander Poznansky, Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky mentions his and his brother's homosexuality.[1]
Career
Modest chose to dedicate his entire life to literature and music. He wrote plays, translated
sonnets by
Shakespeare into Russian and wrote librettos for operas by his brother Pyotr, as well as for other composers such as
Eduard Nápravník,
Arseny Koreshchenko,
Anton Arensky and
Sergei Rachmaninoff. Being the nearest friend of his brother, he became his first biographer, and also the founder of the Tchaikovsky Museum in
Klin.
Plays
Predrassudki (Предрассудки – Prejudices)
Simfoniya (Симфония – Symphony)
Den' v Peterburge (День в Петербурге – A Day in St Petersburg)
Tchaikovsky: Iolanta (Иоланта – Iolanta), Op. 69, 1891, based on the Danish play Kong Renés Datter (King René’s Daughter) by
Henrik Hertz, translated by Fyodor Miller and adapted by Vladimir Rafailovich Zotov. Premiered: 1892,
Mariinsky Theatre,
St Petersburg.