For Tchaikovsky, Mozart's music was like an incarnation of divine beauty in a human form that inspired love, rather than awe (as was the case with Beethoven), and in a remarkable diary entry of 1886 (quoted below) he described Mozart as a "musical Christ".
For Tchaikovsky, Mozart's music was like an incarnation of divine beauty in a human form that inspired love, rather than awe (as was the case with Beethoven), and in a remarkable diary entry of 1886 (quoted below) he described Mozart as a "musical Christ". This adoration of Mozart had its origins in Tchaikovsky's childhood, for when he was not yet five he was moved to tears when he heard the orchestrion that his father had brought from Saint Petersburg play excerpts from Don Giovanni, especially Zerlina's aria "Vedrai, carino". Little Pyotr was so fascinated by the latter melody, even coming from a 'lifeless' mechanical instrument, that his mother showed him how to play it on the piano. Listening to Mozart's music awakened in him a "passionate worship for that genius" which lasted all his life, as his brother Modest observed in his biography of the composer [1].