The Dressed:

In Russia, Tchaikovsky was considered a too European composer until he needed Soviet propaganda as "Our All". And the brilliant “Peak Lady” was written, for example, in Italy in general (which he loved so much that he had an Italian capriccio and a “Memory of Florence”).

Why didn’t Romeo and Juliet stop?
“I have never met anyone who is more in love with Mother Rus in general and her great Russian parts in particular. I grew up in the dark, from my early childhood I was permeated by the inexplicable beauty of Russian folk music... I love the Russian element in all its manifestations, I am Russian in the fullest sense of the word. I love the Russian person, the Russian language, the Russian mindset, the Russian beauty of faces, the Russian customs... I love to travel in the form of vacation abroad – it is the greatest pleasure. You can only live in Russia.”
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky