Pathétique
4 m, 1 w approximate running time 2 hours
In the fall of 1893, Tchaikovsky is in Petersburg to conduct his 6th Symphony Pathetique, the darkest and most mysterious of his works. He's staying with his brother Modest, an unsuccesful playwright, and his nephew Bobyk, an aspiring poet and the object of his famous uncle's unrequited affections. Five days after the premiere of the symphony which, by the composer's own admission, is imbued with a "subjective and secret program," Tchaikovsky is dead.
As the play opens ten years later, Bobyk and Modest are still enduring the unrelenting gossip surrounding the composer's death and the symphony's unrevealed program. Through a narrative that weaves between the events of 1893 and 1903, Pathétique explores the nature of art and the artist's precarious relationship to his audience and his work. |
I guess I always knew I’d write about Tchaikovsky one day. His music inspired me as a child and remained a guilty pleasure well into my adulthood. My earliest play, THE THREE OF CUPS, opens with the banging climax of the First Piano concerto, which, incidentally, was also Tchaikovsky’s earliest and most youthfully passionate work. I read about him on and off over the years and was interested in his complex life of creativity, his sexuality, and his fragile psychology. At the end, Thchaikovsky’s brother Modest, also a fascinating and complex artist, became the conflicted and unfulfilled protagonist of my play.
Productions - Readings - Awards
First Public reading - The Huntington Theater Company - April 2007
Provincetown Counter Productions reading - May 2009
Hartford State reading - October 2011
Productions - Readings - Awards
First Public reading - The Huntington Theater Company - April 2007
Provincetown Counter Productions reading - May 2009
Hartford State reading - October 2011