The official cause of Tchaikovsky's death—cholera from unboiled water—is often rejected in favor of suicide conspiracies. This reflects a cultural discomfort with a celebrated artist dying from a mundane disease, preferring a narrative that aligns with the romanticized image of a tortured genius.

In a diverse, multi-ethnic country, national identity cannot be based on ancestry or "bloodline." Instead, it can be rooted in a shared abstract value. Canada's unifying identity is positioned as "freedom"—the common reason people have historically immigrated, providing a non-ethnic foundation for unity.

Despite harsh laws, homosexuality in 19th-century Russia was often viewed as a personal taste rather than a defining identity. For wealthy, connected individuals like Tchaikovsky, this perception meant the risk of prosecution or public scandal was minimal, allowing for a relatively open secret life.

The global rise of right-wing populism cannot be solely attributed to economic factors like inequality or job loss. Its prevalence in wealthy, low-inequality nations like Sweden and strong manufacturing countries like Germany proves the root cause is a deeper, more widespread cultural anxiety.

For middle-class Russians like Tchaikovsky, music was not a respectable profession. The primary path to social standing was a prestigious and hard-to-attain role as a civil servant, a career he pursued for years before his father encouraged him to switch to music.

Resistance to mass immigration is often mislabeled as racism when it's a defense of cultural uniqueness. The core fear is that blending all cultures creates a bland 'beige' monolith, ultimately allowing the most aggressive and cohesive incoming culture to dominate.

Tsar Alexander III, promoting an ideology of Russian exceptionalism, used Tchaikovsky's work for political ends. By celebrating him as a distinctly 'Russian' composer and bestowing state honors, the regime transformed his art into a tool for advancing a nationalist agenda of cultural separation from Western Europe.

Feeling the pressure of social convention, Tchaikovsky impulsively proposed to a woman he barely knew. His immediate and profound regret—marked by bursting into tears at the wedding and fleeing the marriage—demonstrates a tragic conflict between his personal reality and the societal duty he felt compelled to perform.

Posthumous narratives of Tchaikovsky's life reflect the biases of later eras. Soviet historians actively erased evidence of his homosexuality to fit a state-sanctioned image, while Western scholars often over-emphasized it, framing him as a tortured 'gay composer' to fit their own cultural narratives.