Tchaikovsky is, without a doubt, one of the composers most loved by music fans around the world, a popularity that, however, is usually accompanied by a diffuse knowledge of his life, supported by commonplaces and clichés, when not in a certain suspicion on the part of certain sectors of criticism, which have ended up transmitting a distorted image of his figure.

This book comes to put things in their place. With the help of a meticulous analysis of the composer's vast correspondence, as well as numerous documents from Russian archives and other countries, and a deep knowledge of Russia at the time, Alexander Poznansky offers in this exhaustive biography the most complete portrait performed to date by the great Russian composer, with an objective tone and far from any hint of praise, sensationalism or ideological bias. Its chapters recreate in detail the composer's time, environment and personal relationships, as well as his creative career, paying special attention to little-known or frequently misinterpreted life events, such as his years at the School of Jurisprudence, the catastrophic story of his marriage, his homosexuality, the unique relationship with his patron Nadezhda F. von Meck or the circumstances of his premature death.

The volume, which also offers a complete overview of the political, musical, cultural and social environment of Russia in the second half of the 19th century, includes a good number of illustrations of its protagonists, many of them published for the first time, as well as a complete index of names.