Tchaikovsky’s Head-Holding While Conducting
Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky had a bizarre fear: he believed his head might fall off while conducting. To prevent this imagined catastrophe, he often held his chin with one hand as he waved the baton with the other. Some concertgoers assumed it was a dramatic flair—until they realized it was terror.
Doctors today suspect anxiety or a form of body dysmorphia, but at the time, Tchaikovsky’s fears were dismissed as artistic eccentricity. Despite his success, he was plagued by insecurity, especially about his sexuality. The head-holding was more than a gesture—it was a physical manifestation of inner fracture.
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