Based on historical fact, Mazeppa was a regional leader who rose up against Tsar Peter the Great in the hope of freeing his country from Russian rule. Tchaikovsky adds in Mariya, Mazeppa's goddaughter ...

At bottom, the work is a gripping study in the eternal conflict between love and politics. Forget Liszt’s symphonic poem about the cuckolding philanderer tied naked to a galloping horse. Tchaikovsky’s ...