Death of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Final Days

Final Days

Biographer Alexander Poznansky writes that on 1 November 1893 (Wednesday) Tchaikovsky had gone to the theatre to see Alexander Ostrovsky's play The Ardent Heart. Afterwards, he went with his brother Modest, his nephew Bob Davydov, the composer Alexander Glazunov, and other friends to a restaurant named Leiners, located in Kotomin House at Nevsky Prospekt, Saint Petersburg. During the meal, Tchaikovsky ordered a glass of water. Due to an outbreak of cholera in the city, health regulations required water served in restaurants to be boiled before being served. Tchaikovsky was told by the waiter that no boiled water was then available. He then reportedly requested cold unboiled water, which was brought. Warned by others in his party not to drink it, the composer said he did not fear contracting cholera and drank the water anyway.

The next morning, at Modest's apartment, Pyotr was not in the sitting room drinking tea as usual, but in bed complaining of diarrhea and an upset stomach. Modest asked about calling a doctor. Tchaikovsky refused, instead taking cod liver oil to no avail. Three days later, he was suffering from full blown cholera. His condition worsened, but he still refused to see a doctor. A doctor was finally sent for but he was not home so another one was called. The diagnosis of cholera was finally made by Dr. Lev Bertenson. In the meantime, Tchaikovsky would seem to improve but then would regress and get much worse. His kidneys began to fail. A priest was called from St. Isaac's Cathedral to administer last rites but the composer was too far gone to recognize what was going on around him. He died at 3 a.m. on 6 November 1893.