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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
1840 - 1893
Unable to express his homosexuality, Tchaikovsky poured his emotions into a stream of the most beautiful and lyrical melodies the world has ever heard.
Life and Music
- Tchaikovsky was born in Kamsko-Votkinsk, Russia’s Vyatka province, and displayed exceptional musical ability from an early age, improvising at the piano and composing his first song aged four.
- He was an introspective child, often kept awake at night with the memory of a musical phrase that had particularly moved him, and it wasn’t long before his talent had overtaken that of the local music teacher Mariya Plachikova.
- As an adolescent, Tchaikovsky’s school life was miserable, compounded by the loss of a close friend from scarlet fever and, later, his mother’s death from cholera in 1852. It was at this point that he became more introverted than ever and began to compose seriously, writing a series of piano miniatures and songs.
- In the early 1860s, Tchaikovsky persuaded his father that music was his future and he began composition lessons with Rubinstein. By 1868, he had completed his first major work, Symphony No.1.
- Between 1871 and 1876, he produced a series of works, including Swan Lake and the First Piano Concerto, which established him as Russia’s leading composer.
- Following his ill-fated, short-lived marriage in 1877, he made a failed attempt at committing suicide.
- By 1878, he had recovered enough to begin work on his Violin Concerto, and other masterpieces, including Serenade for Strings, soon followed.
- By 1887, he was at the height of his prowess, conducting his own music to great acclaim and producing such works as the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies and the ballets The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker.
- His death on 6 November 1893 was, it is now believed, a result of a decision made by a ‘court of honour’ following revelations that Tchaikovsky had formed a relationship with a male member of the Russian aristocracy; it was apparently decided that the only course of action open to the composer was for him to commit suicide.
- Today, Tchaikovsky is acknowledged as Russia’s most celebrated composer. In the words of Shostakovich, ‘There is not a single Russian composer who is not indebted in some measure to Tchaikovsky. His brilliant personality was a combination of unusual natural talent and supreme creative imagination.’
Did you know?
The day Tchaikovsky’s mother left him at boarding school was so traumatic that it remained in his memory to the end of his days. He had to be torn away from her, and even then he clung on to the wheels of her carriage to stop her leaving. It’s little wonder, given his sensitive nature, that his music is imbued with such a strong sense of emotion and despair.
