Aleksandra Davydova (Sasha)

Aleksandra Tchaikovskaya Davydova

It is clear from photographs that Aleksandra, Tchaikovsky’s only sister, was a truly beautiful woman. With five brothers (both older and younger) she was doted upon and adored by their father Ilya. Their mother (also Aleksandra) died when she was twelve, leaving the father to take care of his many children alone. Nanny’s were employed of course…while not wealthy, the Tchaikovsky family had means enough to afford such a luxury. 

The common Russian nickname for Aleksandra is Sasha, and that is exactly what her family called her. (As for her last name of Tchaikovskaya, it gets the necessary “aya” on the end to denote a female or feminine version of the name. This becomes a “middle name” when one marries.)  Aleksandra married a gentleman named Lev Davydov who was five years her elder and from a good family.  Of course, when Aleksandra took the Davydov name it became Davydova to denote the feminine version. Hence her name: Aleksandra (Sasha) Tchaikovskaya Davydova.

Sasha, as I will call her here, is one of my kinder, gentler characters in “Fate.”  She is sensitive, caring, and highly intelligent, and devoted to her husband Lev and their seven children. Their working estate was in an area called Kamenka and was some distance from the main cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. This is why it is always quite a journey (by train and then carriage) for Pyotr to come and visit his nieces and nephews. I will not go into Sasha’s life too deeply here so that I do not cause any spoilers for the book but trust me when I say that it was extremely eventful and worth reading about in my novel. 

Almost all of Sasha’s scenes in “Fate” were based on actual moments in her life, including the remarkable scene where the notorious Antonina comes to stay with the Davydov’s at Kamenka. This was accurately portrayed, right down to Antonina dripping blood on Sasha’s sofa because she had nervously bitten her fingernails so short.

It is also true that Sasha was much more tolerant and understanding than her husband Lev when it came to Aleksei staying in Pyotr’s own room whenever the two visited Kamenka. It’s clear that Lev either suspected or was convinced of the composer’s homosexuality and wanted all appearances regarding their visit to be proper. He undoubtedly also harbored some God-fearing traits that would have made his opinions on this matter even stronger. This is what I strove to portray in the book. [Read my Character Analysis part 1 for more on the Aleksei-Pyotr sexual relationship.

It is evident from the actual correspondences between them that Pyotr loved Sasha deeply.  Their close, affectionate relationship shows that the composer was not a woman-hater by any means, even though one might get that impression from his spiteful relationship with his wife, Antonina.   

-Adin Dalton

[NOTE: I thought it might be helpful if I posted in-depth information about some of the main characters in “Fate.”  Since these characters are based actual living, breathing people in the 19th-century, scholars do know something about their points of view, attitudes, and general personalities.  I had the honor of tweaking these attributes further in my novel of course, and so it will be my take on them that I write about here.  I will do many of these over the coming weeks, starting last week with Tchaikovsky’s loyal servant, Aleksei Sofronov.  For those readers who flinch every time they come across Russian names, these short characterizations should help introduce them to my characters in a simpler way.]