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According to The Guardian, "Medinsky claimed that there was no evidence to suggest the 19th-century composer was anything other than a lonely man who failed to find a suitable woman to marry."
Considering Russia's recent track record of anti-gay laws, Medinsky's statement isn't surprising. When news of a Tchaikovsky biopic surfaced, however, we wondered how the composer's personal life would be potrayed onscreen. Because the film is being produced with funding from the Russian government, it will allegedly ignore Tchaikovsky's sexuality completely.
The script went under a recent revision that wiped away any possibly queer innuendoes that wouldn't hold under Russia's gay propaganda laws.
The film's screenwriter, Yuri Rabove, added that the composer of Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty was "a person without a family who was stuck with the opinion that he supposedly loves men."
Historians seem to think Tchaikovsky's homosexuality is a given. Author Konstantin Rotikov stated: "In the case of Tchaikovsky, his homosexuality is so well documented by his own writings and the writings of others that it is simply ludicrous to suggest otherwise."
Medinsky isn't budging. He believes the biopic should focus on Tchaikovsky's life as a great Russian composer and not pay heed to rumors about his sexuality. But Rotikov offers a strong rebuttal: "It's a historical fact. History doesn't change just because we are trying to push a certain agenda today."
[H/T The Guardian]
