Pyotr Tchaikovsky composed some of the most emotionally overwhelming music ever written — Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, the 1812 Overture — while living in constant terror that his homosexuality would be exposed in a society that criminalized it. He entered a disastrous marriage to disguise his orientation, attempted suicide within weeks of the wedding, and spent his life channeling private anguish into public beauty.

This episode traces Tchaikovsky from his sensitive Russian childhood through the catastrophic marriage, the patronage of Nadezhda von Meck, and the mysterious death that may or may not have been suicide ordered by a court of honor.

• Tchaikovsky’s emotional childhood and his secret life in a society that criminalized homosexuality
• The disastrous marriage to Antonina Miliukova and the suicide attempt that followed
• The extraordinary patronage of Nadezhda von Meck — thirteen years of letters, never meeting
• The mysterious death — cholera, suicide, or forced suicide — and the debate that continues