Biography and Chief Works of 

Peter Ilich Tschaikowsky

1840. 

• Born in a small town in Central Russia, just west of the Ural Mountains, where his father was a mining engineer.  But the family moved to St Petersburg (Leningrad) when he was 10, and he was sent to the School of Jurisprudence.  

• Had music lessons, but showed no outstanding talent. 

• (His name, like those of most Russians, is spelled in various ways, because there are no exact Roman equivalents to some of the letters in the Russian alphabet.  "Tschaikowsky" is gaining in popularity.)

1859.

• Appointed as clerk to Ministry of Justice.  Music a hobby - improvised waltzes and polkas.  

1861.

• Began to have serious music lessons and to consider becoming' a musician.  Went to St Petersburg Conservatoire, which was started in 1862 by Anton Rubinstein, a Russian pianist with a Germanic training and outlook.

1863.

• Gave up his post as civil servant, in order to devote himself to music, though at first he earned very little by it.  Continued to study at the Conservatoire.

1866.

• Asked to teach harmony at newly formed Moscow Conservatoire, run by Anton Rubinstein's brother, Nicholas.  They lived together.  Compositions performed at Russian Musical Society.  

• Wrote his first symphony.  Visited sister in the country whenever he could. Shy and retiring, and loved the country.

1868.

• Met "the five".  They prided themselves on their Russian characteristics, took Glinka as their model, and did not approve of Tschaikowsky's Germanic Conservatoire training.  His fantasy-overture 'Romeo and Juliet' was written under the influence of Balakirev, but "the five" and Tschaikowsky never really accepted each other. 

•  Tschaikowsky's music, having a closer link with European traditions, reached Western Europe before theirs did.

• Fell in love - with a Belgian opera singer, but she married someone else.

1874.

• Wrote piano concerto in Bь minor, which soon became very popular in Europe and America.

1875.

• Ballet, 'Swan Lake'.

1876.

• Began to correspond almost daily with a wealthy widow, Mme von Meck, who loved his music, but did not wish to meet him, and never did so.

1877.

• Married, but separated after nine weeks.  Fled to St Petersburg, then spent some weeks in Switzerland and Italy.  

• Mme von Meek persuaded him to accept an annuity of about £6oo, so that he could be free of teaching (which- he found very uncongenial), and live quietly in the country, giving all his attention to composition. 

• Wrote his fourth symphony (the first famous one), and dedicated it to her.  Also began his most famous opera, ‘Eugene Onegin’.  Made his home from 1877 to 1884 with his sister at Kamenka (the Kamenka period), though spent a good deal of time abroad.  

• Violin concerto in 1878.

1881.

• Offered position as Head of Moscow Conservatoire after death of Nicholas Rubinstein, but decided against it.  

• Wrote piano trio to Rubinstein's memory.

1885.

• Bought a house at Klin, in the country between Moscow and St Petersburg-always had a house in this neighborhood for the rest of his life.  

• By now had received world recognition, and began to accept invitations to conduct his works throughout Europe.

1888.

• Fifth symphony and fantasy-overture 'Hamlet'.  Ballet 'The Sleeping Beauty'.

1889.

• German tour, including Hamburg, where he met Brahms, who heard his fifth symphony and liked it.  Also a second visit to London, where his music was always very popular.

1890.

• Opera 'The Queen of Spades' written and produced.  Mme von Meck wrote saying she could no longer afford his pension.  She never wrote to him again, which wounded him very much.

1891.

• Death of beloved sister, in whose home he had so often stayed.  She and Mme von Meek had been the most important women in his life.  Concert tour of America - guest of honor at formal opening of Carnegie Hall, New York.  

• Returned to Russia, and wrote 'Nutcracker' ballet.  Arranged suite from it a year later.

1892-3.

• The 'Pathetic' symphony (the sixth and last).  Continued to tour) but always suffered from homesickness.  

• Visited London again, and received honorary degree at Cambridge.

1893.

• Died of cholera.

A cultured, shy, retiring man, who disliked teaching, and preferred to live alone in the country, though he conducted his own works in many places with success towards the end of his life But he was not afraid of showing his feelings in his music, which is often full of passionate melancholy.  

Has Russian characteristics, though not enough to satisfy the Russian Nationalists of the period. .  But it is also based on nineteenth-century European traditions (more than that of other Russians),  and owed much to Germany and Italy.  He had the Italian love of sensuous melody.

His chief appeal lies in his melodies and his exciting orchestral coloring.  

His favorite composer was Mozart.

Six symphonies, the 4th in F minor, 5th in E minor, and 6^th (the 'Pathetic') in B minor being the most often played.

Orchestral works on a programmatic basis, 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Francesca da Rimini' being the best known.  Other orchestral works, including 5 suites and the popular ‘1812' overture.  He also wrote a movement of a 3rd piano concerto.

Concertos:

2 for piano, no. 1 in Bь minor being the better known; 1 violin concerto; 'Variations on a Rococo Theme' for 'cello; and other slighter works.

Chamber music: 

3 string quartets of uneven quality; piano trio 'To the Memory of a great Artist' (A.  Rubinstein); and other works, including a string sextet.

Ballets:

'Swan Lake'; 'The Sleeping Beauty'; 'The Nutcracker'. (Orchestral suite arranged from the latter also very famous.)

Many operas, not very successful.  'Eugene Onegin' and 'The Queen of Spades' the best.

Many other works, including songs, a few of which are good; rather second-rate piano pieces; unimportant choral works, etc.