“Pathetic Symphony is one of the great novels of this century about the life of a great artist, Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky. When the book was originally published 1948, the London Times praised Klaus Mann as “a true son of his father Thomas Mann because he effectively captures the intimate details of the passionate, friendships, capricious love affairs, and bitter feuds of the Tchaikovsky family, while taking the composer through his triumphant tours around the world, from Moscow to Paris and New York. The New York Times especially praised “the erotic scenes and the recreation of European musical society.” The novel depicts “the great age of great musicians, and a host of musicians walk through the pages—Brahms, Wagner, Grieg, Rubinstein, Moussorgsky.” (Saturday Review) It portrays a time of bourgeois prejudice. Tchaikovsky’s relationships with younger men of all classes made him constantly afraid of humiliation, public scandals, and blackmail.”-Christopher Street