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© Copyright 2000, Jim Loy
Peter (Piotr) Tchaikovsky's (Chaikovskii or Tschaikowsky or other spellings) Eugene (Yevgeni) Onegin is one of the most popular of all operas. It is an interesting and emotional story (based on a play by Pushkin), and is unusual for grand opera in that there is very little action (only one death). In the opera, Tatyana writes a letter to Onegin, telling him that she is in love with him. He rejects her, because he would find married life too boring. Tragedy and unhappiness follows.
About the time that Tchaikovsky wrote Onegin, he received a love letter from one of his young music students. He resolved not to repeat Onegin's mistake, and soon married the young lady. Tchaikovsky was a homosexual. His new wife was mentally unstable. People have theorized that she was a nymphomaniac. In the end, he attempted suicide, and she ended up in an insane asylum.