Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: the most popular of all Russian composers

1. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky:

the most popular of all Russian
composers.

2. Early years

He was born in Votkinsk
on May 7, 1840.
Tchaikovsky’s father was a
Ukrainian who worked as
a mining engineer. His
mother’s grandfather was
a Frenchman who moved
to Russia. Tchaikovsky
was only five when he
started taking piano
lessons. Soon he played
better than his teacher.

3. Life

He spent nine years at the
School of Jurisprudence.
When he left school, he
had to get a job. For four
years he worked as a clerk
in the Ministry of Justice.
Then the composer and
pianist Anton Rubinstein
helped him to become a
music student at the newly
opened conservatory in St.
Petersburg.

4. Last years

By 1885 Tchaikovsky had
got tired of travelling
around. In 1889 he
finished his second ballet,
The Sleeping Beauty, and
the next year, while
staying in Florence, he
created his famous opera,
The Queen of Spades,
based on a story by
Pushkin.

5. Death

Many people think that he
commited suicide by
deliberately drinking
contaminated water. He
may have wanted to (or
even been forced to)
commit suicide in order to
avoid a scandal because
he was having a
relationship with a nephew
of an important aristocratic
man. What really
happened will always be
a mystery.

6. Music

His compositions include
11 operas, 3 ballets,
orchestral music, chamber
music and over 100
romances. His ballets
(Swan Lake, The
Nutcracker and Sleeping
Beauty) have some of the
best known tunes in all
classical music.