Tchaikovsky wrote 99 songs for solo voice and piano. Of these, only five are settings of the poet Alexey Apukhtin. These five songs are of particular interest, however, since they are some of Tchaikovsky's best, and because Apukhtin was one of Tchaikovsky's closest personal friends. Apukhtin had a large influence on Tchaikovsky, especially in the first years of their friendship.

Tchaikovsky and Apukhtin met and became friends at the School of Jurisprudence in St. Petersburg, Russia, where Tchaikovsky studied from 1852 to 1859. Apukhtin was a highly talented poet, whose writing had already won praise from the respected writers Turgenev and Fet. Apukhtin was said to be rather heavy and unattractive in appearance, but he has been compared to the English poet Oscar Wilde for his wit and his flamboyance. He papered his wall with the portraits of many young officers and was a frequent party-goer and an active member of the homosexual community in St. Petersburg. Apukhtin and his friends helped Tchaikovsky come to terms with his own homosexuality. Tchaikovsky called Apukhtin his "court jester and best friend." (Holden, 1995, p. 32) Apukhtin provided a place for Tchaikovsky to stay on and off during 1863-65 and was Tchaikovsky's lover during part of this time. A visitor to Apukhtin's recalled that Tchaikovsky and Apukhtin lived in the latter's apartment in the fall of 1865 as "husband and wife." (Holden, p. 44)

In later years, as Tchaikovsky became more involved with composing, he distanced himself somewhat from the more flamboyant members of the homosexual community in St. Petersburg, including Apukhtin. However, Tchaikovsky continued to visit Apukhtin from time to time and was very saddened to hear of the poet's death in 1843.  Tchaikovsky himself was to die just over two months later.

Bibliography

Holden, Anthony. Tchaikovsky: A Biography.  New York: Random House, 1995.

Poznansky, Alexander. Tchaikovsky: The Quest for the Inner Man. New York: Schirmer Books, 1991.

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