Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Tchaikovsky initially studied law and worked as a secretary at the Ministry of Justice from 1859 to 1863; from 1863 to 1865 he studied at the St Petersburg Conservatoire under, among others, Anton Rubinstein, and from 1866 to 1878 he taught music theory at the Moscow Conservatoire, where its director, Nikolai Rubinstein, supported him (one of his pupils there was Sergei Taneyev). Alongside this, he worked as a music critic and, from 1878 onwards, increasingly as a conductor of his own works and as a freelance composer whose fame spread ever more widely in Russia and Western Europe. Tchaikovsky travelled frequently abroad, especially to Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain and Switzerland, and in 1891 for the first time to the USA. Between 1877 and 1890 he maintained an extensive correspondence with the widowed Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck, who also supported him financially; the exchange, which offers deep insight into his creative work and inner life, was conducted on the mutual understanding that they would never meet in person. In 1877 Tchaikovsky married Antonina Milyukova, but separated from her after only a few weeks.

In later years, depression and loneliness overshadowed his public honours and successes as a composer. The circumstances of his death remain unresolved. He most likely died from cholera, though it is possible the infection was deliberately contracted after his liaison with a young aristocrat threatened to become public.

Tchaikovsky’s compositions present a highly varied picture in their development and stylistic orientation. On the one hand, they are linked to the forms and sonorities of Central and Western European music; on the other, Tchaikovsky felt spiritually and musically entirely at home in Russia. At times he maintained contact with the group known as “The Five” (the Mighty Handful) and received important stimulus from Mily Balakirev in particular, though without following his programme of Russian nationalism. Moreover, Tchaikovsky’s works—especially those of his mature period – are marked by a deeply personal, emotionally charged expressiveness, which recedes only in certain compositions modelled on earlier styles (such as the Orchestral Suites Nos. 1–4 and the Variations on a Rococo Theme for cello and orchestra) and in salon-like genre pieces. A key stylistic feature is his expressive, sensitive melodic writing, often combined with colourful, original instrumentation, richly nuanced harmony and, in fast movements, striking rhythmic vitality. Traditional formal models remain recognisable but are frequently handled freely and rebalanced through individual thematic development.

Tchaikovsky composed successful works in almost every genre. Highlights of his instrumental output include the Symphonies Nos. 4, 5 and 6—the last, the Pathétique, as a moving self-revelation shortly before his death – the concertos and several orchestral suites, overtures and fantasias. Among his stage works, the later operas (Eugene Onegin, 1879; The Queen of Spades, 1890) and ballets (Swan Lake, 1877; The Sleeping Beauty, 1890; The Nutcracker, 1892) remain staples of the repertoire to this day. His chamber music appears somewhat less distinctive, and only a few of his piano works – mostly character pieces in the tradition of German Romanticism – have become widely popular.