Iosif Kotek

25 October] 1855 – 4 January 1885), was a Russian violinist and composer remembered for his association with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

At that time, a wealthy widow and patron named Nadezhda von Meck asked the conservatory to provide a violinist to join her household to play chamber music and other pieces.

Thus started what would become one of the most remarkable artistic liaisons in musical history, a period of 14 years during which she supported him financially to become a full-time composer with no need to teach to earn a living—but they were never to meet in person.

[12] Tchaikovsky also deposited with his publisher P. Jurgenson an amount of money he had received from his patroness, to be made available to Kotek should he need it.

Iosif Kotek was involved in an elaborate subterfuge to keep the details of these developments from Tchaikovsky’s wider circle, including his parents.

He was engaged in a series of amorous episodes with women in Nadezhda von Meck's large household, which caused her to become markedly cold towards him.

In 1878, still recovering from the breakdown of his disastrous marriage and his subsequent suicide attempt,[19] Tchaikovsky went to stay at Nadezhda von Meck's estate at Clarens, Switzerland, along with Modest and Kolya Konradi.

He arrived on 14 March[20] carrying a swag of new music for violin, including Édouard Lalo's Symphonie espagnole, which he and Tchaikovsky played through to great delight.

On 3 April they gave the work a complete run-through, but neither of the Tchaikovsky brothers nor Kotek were satisfied with the Andante middle movement.

[20][22] Tchaikovsky wanted to dedicate the concerto to Kotek, but felt constrained by the gossip this would undoubtedly cause about the true nature of his feelings for the younger man.

[28] That year, Kotek contributed to the arrangement for solo voices, chorus and piano of Tchaikovsky’s opera The Maid of Orleans.

The work had finally been premiered that year in Vienna by Adolph Brodsky, to a notoriously scathing review from Eduard Hanslick and a muted audience response.

[30] Kotek continued his studies with Joseph Joachim in Berlin until 1882, and then became a teacher at the Hochschule für Musik.