Tchaikovsky’s Life & Music

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born on May 7, 1840 in Votkinsk, Russia. His father was Ilya Petrovich and his mother was Alexandra Andreyevna. As a child, Tchaikovsky was called Petya, and he was very emotionally sensitive. His housekeeper called him a “child of glass,” and when Petya was sent off to boarding school, the experience of being left behind by his mother scarred him emotionally.

Tchaikovsky soon developed a love for music. He was skilled at the piano, but he was even more skilled as a composer. As a child, he reported to hearing unstoppable music in his head. After a short stint in the Russian civil service, Tchaikovsky enrolled himself in the new Moscow Conservatory of Music.

As Tchaikovsky grew, he began to explore his homosexual identity. He called this his “great secret” or his “problem,” and his life was tormented by it. A number of his compositions were believed to be inspired by his lovers or the struggle with homosexuality itself.

Tchaikovsky was a prolific composer. He wrote symphonies, string quartets, operas, ballets, incidental music, piano concerti, a violin concerto, chamber music, orchestral suites, songs, solo piano music, patriotic music, and tone poems.

For a sampling of Tchaikovsky’s music watch this video:

In 1893, a number of Tchaikovsky’s former classmates from boarding school convened a special council to determine how Tchaikovsky should be punished now that his homosexuality was beginning to become public knowledge. It is believed that Tchaikovsky was coerced into committing suicide by poisoning himself with arsenic (which produces symptoms similar to cholera). Tchaikovsky died only days after he conducted the premiere of his final symphony.

For more information about Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, visit http://www.tchaikovsky-research.net/