Antonina Miliukova
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Antonina Ivanovna Tchaikovskaya (née Miliukova) (1849–1917) was the wife (and after 1893, the widow) of Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Miliukova, younger than the composer by nine years, had met Tchaikovsky while he was professor at the Moscow Music Conservatory as she, herself was a student there. Though she eventually had to abandon her studies at that institution, probably as the result of financial troubles, she pursued him and by 1877, was evidently in love with him. Not realizing that he was homosexual, she wrote to him on at least two occasions. By June of that year, Tchaikovsky agreed to a marriage, in order to please his family and put any societal rumors regarding his sexual proclivity to rest. He described Miliukova as "... a woman with whom I am not the least in love."
The marriage was disastrous, with a permanent separation following after only six weeks. In later years, the couple met briefly only a couple of times, much to the displeasure of the composer. He supported her throughout the years with a regular allowance during which time she lived freely and produced three children by (allegedly) three different fathers, all given up to foundling hospitals. Due to strict regulations regarding divorce in Imperial Russia, the two remained legally married until Tchaikovsky's death. Tchaikovsky insisted that no blame be attached to Miliukova for their failed marriage, though he detested her and often referred to her as The Reptile. She outlived Tchaikovsky by twenty-four years, spending the last twenty in an insane asylum.
She was portrayed by actress Glenda Jackson in the film The Music Lovers, a highly-fictionalized and poorly researched film from the 1970's.
