i have a few favorite composers but tchaikovsky has a special place in my heart for several reasons. one time he was pitched a story to adapt into an opera and thought it was a shit idea but then he had a manic episode and decided it was genius actually, and he should start writing it immediately. the story was about a girl who falls in love with her older teacher and writes him a confession letter, but he shuts her down. other things happen too but that's the center of it. typical dramatic opera love plot, tragic and one sided, fork found in kitchen
then one day he gets a confession letter in real life from one of his own students who threatens to kill herself if he doesn't accept. which is a problem because he's gay. he agrees to marry her anyway though essentially as a beard, they divorce after like 4 months and he finishes the opera.
it's like. imagine being in the process of writing a creative work and then the exact plot of it happens to you in real life but worse
