Life and Work of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Life and Work of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Name

Course

Tutor’s Name

Date

Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Iiyich was a Russian composer who was born in Kamsko-Votkinsk on 7 May 1840 and later died in St. Petersburg on 6 November 1893. He composed several works such as symphonies, concertos, operas, ballets, chamber music and was among the most popular theatrical music in the classical repertoire. He was the first Russian composer who made significant influence internationally as well as making numerous appearances as a guest conductor such as at the inaugural concert of Carnegie Hall in New York City in 1891.

Tchaikovsky’s work was recognized and honored b y very great people such as Emperor Alexander III who awarded him a lifetime annuity later in life. It was amazing that Tchaikovsky was not even a professional musician. The Great Russian composer had education in a particular career as a civil servant. Pyotr was born from a family that had a long military experience. His father who was mostly of Russian ethnicity worked as an engineer in the Department of Mine. All the parents were trained in arts including music which was very important especially considering that they lived in a very remote region. At the age of six, Tchaikovsky was already fluent in French and Germany through the help of the teacher who was hired to teach Tchaikovsky elder brother Nikolai and a niece of the family (Burt 2001, p. 410 -411).

At age of four, Pyotr took piano lessons where he proved to be an intelligent pupil who could clearly read music proficiently within three years. His parents were very helpful and engaged a tutor and buying him musical instruments such orchestrion. However, the parents changed their mind in around 1850 and sent him to Imperial School of Jurisprudence in Saint Petersburg maybe because they grew insensitive towards musical gift for their son and perhaps lack of better musical career in Russia at that time. Pyotr’s father also became broke and may have wanted Pyotr to remain independent as soon as possible. Music career was considered to be a very low career in Russia (Kavanaugh 1996, p.50-51).

The fact that both Tchaikovsky’s parents schooled in Saint Petersburg, they felt it important to take their son to The School of Jurisprudence which they felt would prepare their son for a career as a civil servant at the age of 10 and this made him board for two years. It forced him to stay almost 1,300 km away from his family and later begun a seven year course of studies after his two years in preparatory school. Separation of Tchaikovsky from his mother made him have an emotional suffering that affected him for the rest of his life and was further increased by his mother’s death in 1854. Tchikovsky mourned his mother for the rest of his life as he termed it the “crucial event” and claimed that it was vivid to him. His mother’s loss also made him to make his initial stern composition called a waltz in her memory.

The father thought it wise to take his son back to school so that his mind can be occupied with academic work which later made Tchaikovsky made lifelong friendship with fellow students Aleksey Apukhtin and Vladimir Gerard. Music greatly unified them and they maintained an extracurricular activity where they habitually attended the opera. Tchaikovsky further went ahead with his piano lessons by the help of an instrument maker Franz Becker who made several trips to the school. In 1855, Tchaikovsky father employed Mr. Rudolph Kundinger as a private teacher who suggested to his father that Pyotr did not have any future as a musician but later confirmed that his decision was based on his negative experience as a musician. Tchaikovsky’s father remained receptive about music career and did not know what to do about it making him to advice his son to finish school and try for a post in the Ministry of Justice.

Tchaikovsky later graduated with a position of titular at the age of 19 in 1859 and was appointed five days later to the Ministry of Justice. He served as a junior assistant within 6 months before being promoted to a senior assistant director where he stayed for the three years he took in the civil service career. He then attended lessons in music theory in Saint Petersburg where the classes were organized by Russian musical society to foster native talent. His attendance to the music lessons transformed changed him into a musical professional with enough tools for composure as well as the sense that his art was more than Russian or Western culture. The fact that his style of composition was global boosted his morale and other Russian composers in building individual style. Although his first Symphony was well received in Moscow in 1868, most of the musical conformist did not love his style. Tchaikovsky continued with his composition as well as music denigration by endlessly addressing the pitiable situation of Russian opera (ChaĭKovskiĭ 2004, p. 64-70).

Tchaikovsky first met a Belgian soprano Desiree Artot whom he described as one of the most lustrous opera stars of the day.he later married a Spanish baritone Antonina Milyukova who wrote to him to declare her love for him but the marriage was hasty and could not stay any further in the marriage. He was later involved with a wealthy widow whom he did not meet but gave him financial support of almost 6,000 rubles a year to boost his musical career between 1877 and 1890. The rich widow, Madame Nadezhda von Meck abruptly cut off her support for him perhaps because of Tchaikovsky’s sexual preference (ChaĭKovskiĭ 2004, p. 204-210).

Pyotr stayed abroad for another year after his matrimony breakup where he fully came up with Eugene Onegin. He further orchestrated the Fourth Symphony and made a composition of Violin Concerto and later returned to Moscow Conservatory in 1879. Between 1889 and1890, Tchaikovsky worked as a director of the Moscow branch of the Russian musical society where he invited many international celebrities to conduct and promoted Russian music as a conductor (Kavanaugh 1996, p.50-51). He also made several attempts to form groups with composers and other likeminded musicians such as the Belyayev circle and the five. He was awarded an honorary doctor of music degree by the University of Cambridge after he was voted a member of the Academia des Beaux-Arts in 1892.At age 53, after Pyotr performed his sixth Symphony, he died of what was expected to be cholera and was buried near the graves of fellow composers.Reference

Burt, D, S, 2001, The Biography Book: A Reader’s Guide To Nonfiction, Fictional, And Film Biographies Of More Than 500 Of The Most Fascinating Individuals Of All Time. Westport, Ct, Oryx Press.

ChaĭKovskiĭ, M, I, & Newmarch, R 2004, The Life & Letters Of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Honolulu, Hawaii, University Press Of The Pacific.

Kavanaugh, P 1996, A Taste For The Classics, Nashville, Tenn, Sparrow Press.