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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

May 7, 1840 - November 6, 1893
born in Votkinsk, Viatka district, Russia, composed during the Romantic period

Biography

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky was the author of some of the most popular themes in all of classical music. He founded no school, struck out no new paths or compositional methods, and sought few innovations in his works. Yet the power and communicative sweep of his best music elevates it to classic status, even if it lacks the formal boldness and harmonic sophistication heard in the compositions of his contemporaries, Wagner and Bruckner. It was Tchaikovsky's unique melodic charm that could, whether in his Piano Concerto No. 1 or in his ballet The Nutcracker or in his tragic last symphony, make the music sound familiar on first hearing.

Tchaikovsky was born into a family of five brothers and one sister. He began taking piano lessons at age four and showed remarkable talent, eventually surpassing his own teacher's abilities. By age nine, he exhibited severe nervous problems, not least because of his overly sensitive nature. The following year, he was sent to St. Petersburg to study at the School of Jurisprudence. The loss of his mother in 1854 dealt a crushing blow to the young Tchaikovsky. In 1859, he took a position in the Ministry of Justice, but longed for a career in music, attending concerts and operas at every opportunity. He finally began study in harmony with Zaremba in 1861, and enrolled at the St. Petersburg Conservatory the following year, eventually studying composition with Anton Rubinstein.

In 1866, the composer relocated to Moscow, accepting a professorship of harmony at the new conservatory, and shortly afterward turned out his First Symphony, suffering, however, a nervous breakdown during its composition. His opera The Voyevoda came in 1867-1868 and he began another, The Oprichnik, in 1870, completing it two years later. Other works were appearing during this time, as well, including the First String Quartet (1871), the Second Symphony (1873), and the ballet Swan Lake (1875).

In 1876, Tchaikovsky traveled to Paris with his brother, Modest, and then visited Bayreuth, where he met Liszt, but was snubbed by Wagner. By 1877, Tchaikovsky was an established composer. This was the year of Swan Lake's premiere and the time he began work on the Fourth Symphony (1877-1878). It was also a time of woe: in July, Tchaikovsky, despite his homosexuality, foolishly married Antonina Ivanovna Milyukova, an obsessed admirer, their disastrous union lasting just months. The composer attempted suicide in the midst of this episode. Near the end of that year, Nadezhda von Meck, a woman he would never meet, became his patron and frequent correspondent.

Further excursions abroad came in the 1880s, along with a spate of successful compositions, including the Serenade for Strings (1881), 1812 Overture (1882), and the Fifth Symphony (1888). In both 1888 and 1889, Tchaikovsky went on successful European tours as a conductor, meeting Brahms, Grieg, Dvorák, Gounod, and other notable musical figures. Sleeping Beauty was premiered in 1890, and The Nutcracker in 1892, both with success.

Throughout Tchaikovsky's last years, he was continually plagued by anxiety and depression. A trip to Paris and the United States followed one dark nervous episode in 1891. Tchaikovsky wrote his Sixth Symphony, "Pathétique," in 1893, and it was successfully premiered in October, that year. The composer died ten days later of cholera, or -- as some now contend -- from drinking poison in accordance with a death sentence conferred on him by his classmates from the School of Jurisprudence, who were fearful of shame on the institution owing to an alleged homosexual episode involving Tchaikovsky. ~ Robert Cummings, All Music Guide

Continued…

Selected Discography

Nutcracker: The Motion Picture

Tchaikovsky Complete Songs 1

Tchaikovsky: Complete Songs, Vol. 4

Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1; The Nutcracker Suite

Tchaikovsky: String Quartets Nos. 1 - 3/Souvenir De Florence

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake / The Nutcracker / The Sleeping Beauty (Complete Recordings) - Boston Symphony Orchestra / Seiji Ozawa / Russian National Orchestra / Mikhail Pletnev

Tchaikovsky: Symphonies [Box Set]

Tchaikovsky: Symphony 4 In F Minor Op. 36

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5

Tchaikovsky: Symphony Pathetique

Tchaikovsky: The Seasons

angel of anarchy says:

07-23-2008

carson-why did you say that ? did you think you were on yanni's station ? anyways-this is a boris gudonov station and then they tell you why they're not playing and you'd have to be a lawyer's mother to actually want to read it. It's this music that's making me so civil this evening.

caroltrimble says:

05-13-2008

Where's his "March Slav"?

cjsands61 says:

05-08-2008

Pathétique, 4th movement.... t h e m most moving piece of music ever composed.

ChknCOOP says:

04-11-2008

"Jigaboo" is a funny word! =^)

shayanistheb e s t 1 2 says:

02-26-2008

im happy they have this song because im in a school play of yhe magnifecent7 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

willnotburn says:

02-25-2008

Please include op.37A - Barcarolle a.k.a. June from the Seasons. Tchaikovsky wrote it over breakfast...

wmartynes says:

02-16-2008

Would love to be able to listen to violin concerto in D

oh.hello.joe says:

01-14-2008

Please include opus 49, the 1812 Overture

Lou Smith says:

12-24-2007

Where is violin concerto in D

MARVIN L. SUSSMAN says:

12-17-2007

ONE OF MY FAVORITES, MELODIC AND ELEGANT

info5174 says:

12-12-2007

we would like to heard the valls Tchaikovsky.

dystopias says:

12-05-2007

please include opus 35 (performed by itzak pearlman if possible)