Pyotr Tchaikovsky – the Great Russian Composer

Life and Important Facts about Composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky from our Know the Great Composers and Classical Musicians Series.

About Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer of the Romantic period, who lived from 1840 to 1893. He is one of the most popular and influential composers of all time, and his music is widely performed and loved by audiences around the world. In this blog post, we will explore his early life, some fun facts, his important achievements, and what we can learn from him and his music.

Early life

Tchaikovsky was born in Votkinsk, a small town in the Ural Mountains, to a well-to-do family of mixed Russian and French ancestry. He showed an early interest and talent for music, and started taking piano lessons at the age of five. He also composed his first song with his sister Alexandra when he was four years old. However, his parents did not encourage him to pursue a musical career, as they thought it was not a respectable or secure profession in Russia at that time. Instead, they sent him to a boarding school in St. Petersburg to prepare him for a career in the civil service.

Tchaikovsky was unhappy and lonely at school, and missed his family, especially his mother, who died of cholera when he was 14. He found some solace in music and literature, and became fascinated by the works of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and other Western composers. He also developed a love for Russian folk music and culture, which would later influence his own compositions.

At the age of 19, he graduated from school and entered the Ministry of Justice as a clerk. He soon realized that he hated his job and that he wanted to devote his life to music. Fortunately, he found an opportunity to study music at the newly founded St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he enrolled in 1862. There he received a thorough and rigorous training in Western musical theory and practice from Anton Rubinstein, a famous pianist and composer. He also met some of his lifelong friends and colleagues, such as Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Modest Mussorgsky.

Fun facts

• Tchaikovsky had a fear of conducting, as he thought that his head would fall off while doing so. He once conducted his own overture with one hand holding his chin.
• Tchaikovsky had a patroness named Nadezhda von Meck, who supported him financially for 13 years. They never met in person, but exchanged over 1,200 letters, in which they shared their thoughts on music, art, and life.
• Tchaikovsky was a homosexual, but he kept it secret from the public, as homosexuality was illegal and taboo in Russia at that time. He married a young woman named Antonina Miliukova in 1877, but it was a disaster and they separated after two months.
• Tchaikovsky loved traveling and visited many countries in Europe and Asia. He also visited the United States in 1891, where he conducted at the opening of Carnegie Hall in New York.
• Tchaikovsky died of cholera in 1893, after drinking unboiled water at a restaurant. Some people believe that he committed suicide by doing so, as he was facing a scandal involving a young nobleman.

Important achievements

Tchaikovsky composed some of the most famous and beloved works in the classical repertoire, spanning various genres and forms. He wrote seven symphonies, 11 operas, three ballets, five suites, three piano concertos, a violin concerto, several overtures and orchestral pieces, four cantatas, 20 choral works, three string quartets, a string sextet, and more than 100 songs and piano pieces.

Some of his most well-known works include:

• The ballets Swan Lake (1876), The Sleeping Beauty (1890), and The Nutcracker (1892), which are full of enchanting melodies, graceful dances, and vivid orchestration. They are based on fairy tales and legends, and depict magical worlds of fantasy and romance.
• The opera Eugene Onegin (1879), which is based on a novel by Alexander Pushkin. It tells the story of a young aristocrat who rejects the love of a country girl named Tatyana, only to realize his mistake years later when she is married to another man.
• The opera The Queen of Spades (1890), which is also based on a story by Pushkin. It tells the story of a gambler named Hermann who becomes obsessed with learning the secret of winning at cards from an old countess.
• The Violin Concerto in D major (1878), which is one of the most challenging and virtuosic works for violin and orchestra ever written. It features dazzling melodies, brilliant passages, and a fiery finale.
• The Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor (1875), which is one of the most popular and frequently performed piano concertos in the world. It begins with a powerful and memorable theme played by the piano and orchestra, and continues with lyrical and expressive movements.
• The 1812 Overture (1880), which is a patriotic piece that commemorates the Russian victory over Napoleon in the War of 1812. It features a famous climax with cannon shots and ringing bells.
• The Symphony No. 6 in B minor, also known as the Pathétique Symphony (1893), which is his last and most personal work. It is a tragic and emotional symphony that reflects his inner turmoil and despair. It ends with a slow and somber movement that fades away into silence.
• In 1856, while Tchaikovsky was still at the School of Jurisprudence and Anton Rubinstein lobbied aristocrats to form the Russian Musical Society, critic Vladimir Stasov and an 18-year-old pianist, Mily Balakirev, met and agreed upon a nationalist agenda for Russian music, one that would take the operas of Mikhail Glinka as a model and incorporate elements from folk music, reject traditional Western practices and use non-Western harmonic devices such as the whole tone and octatonic scales. They saw Western-style conservatories as unnecessary and antipathetic to fostering native talent. Eventually, Balakirev, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin became known as the moguchaya kuchka, translated into English as the “Mighty Handful” or “The Five”.

Tchaikovsky in Odessa, where he conducted five concerts in January 1893

What we can learn from Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky was a composer who expressed his feelings and emotions through his music, without compromising his artistic integrity or originality. He was able to combine the best elements of Western and Russian musical traditions, creating a unique and distinctive style that appeals to both the heart and the mind. He was also a composer who faced many challenges and difficulties in his life, such as loneliness, depression, rejection, and discrimination, but he never gave up on his passion and his art. He was able to overcome his fears and doubts, and to achieve his dreams and goals.

What students can learn from Tchaikovsky

Students who study Tchaikovsky’s music can learn many things from him, such as:

• How to write beautiful melodies that capture the mood and character of the music.
• How to use harmony, modulation, and chromaticism to create contrast, tension, and resolution in the music.
• How to use orchestration, instrumentation, and timbre to create colour, texture, and atmosphere in the music.
• How to use form, structure, and development to organize and shape the music.
• How to use motifs, themes, and variations to create coherence and unity in the music.
• How to use programmatic elements, such as titles, stories, or images, to inspire and communicate with the listeners.
• How to express one’s personality, emotions, and ideas through music.
• How to appreciate and respect different musical cultures and traditions.
• How to cope with challenges and difficulties in life through music.

Antecedents and Influences

Robert Schumann, lithograph by Josef Kriehuber, in 1839 Of Tchaikovsky’s Western predecessors, Robert Schumann stands out as an influence in formal structure, harmonic practices, and piano writing, according to Brown and musicologist Roland John Wiley. Boris Asafyev comments that Schumann left his mark on Tchaikovsky not just as a formal influence but also as an example of musical dramaturgy and self-expression. Leon Botstein argues the music of Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner also left their imprints on Tchaikovsky’s orchestral style. The late-Romantic trend for writing orchestral suites, begun by Franz Lachner, Jules Massenet, and Joachim Raff after the rediscovery of Bach‘s works in that genre, may have influenced Tchaikovsky to try his own hand at them.

Conclusion

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a remarkable composer who left a lasting legacy in the history of music. His music is a source of joy, inspiration, and education for millions of people around the world. He is a role model for anyone who loves music and wants to pursue it as a career or a hobby. He is also a human being who had his flaws and weaknesses, but who also had his strengths and virtues. He is someone we can relate to, admire, and learn from.

Images: From Public Domain

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