Further excerpts from the correspondence between the composer and Nadezhda von Meek , read by Alex Jennings and Anna Massey. Within days of the wedding, Tchaikovsky confesses that his marriage is a disaster: two weeks with his wife and he is close to suicide, such is the emotional agony and fear of the scandal. Von Meek is full of compassion, pours scorn on his wife's character and provides money to help him escape abroad. With music from Acts 3 and 4 of Swan Lake performed by the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, conductor Yevgeni Svetlanov. Repeated from Christmas Eve