Composer biography (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky) - Essay Example

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky- the Russian Romantic Composer Anybody who has seen the ballet “Swan Lake” will remember it for its unforgettable, melodiousmusic. “Swan Lake” is one of Tchaikovsky’s less renowned ballets. He is more famous for his melodious symphonies which were both Russian in character and , at the same time western too. Tchaikovsky was one of the most popular composers of the nineteenth century. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in 1840 in Russia. His father, Ilya Petrovich was a manager in a metal works, and his mother Alexandra has French ancestors.

Pyotr showed a predilection for music from early childhood . When he was four years old, he composed a song with his younger sister Alexandra. He began piano lessons at the age of four, with a local teacher. He soon learnt to read music as well as his teacher in three years. He became familiar with Frederic Chopin’s mazurkas.In 1850, Tchaikovsky was sent to the prestigious Imperial School of Jurisprudence in St.Petersburg , an all boys school. He studied there for nine years. He was popular among his peers, and had intense emotional ties with several boys.

As music was not given much importance in the institute, Tchaikovsky’s father paid for his piano lessons from Rudolph Kundiger outside the School,.In the meantime, Pyotr’s mother died due to cholera., which had a great emotional impact on the boy. When he was seventeen, Tchaikovsky was influenced by the Italian music instructor, Luigi Piccioli. Tchaikovsky loved Italian music, and it influenced his compositions. He admired Mozart’s Don Giovanni. He graduated in 1859 from the Imperial School of Jurisprudence and started working as a junior civil servant.

He worked there for three years although he did not like the work. Realizing that his vocation was music, he resigned from the post to study music.According to Daniel.G.Mason, who writes in his “Personal Life”, Tchaikovsky was a “ready improviser”, and could play music well for dancing, and was blessed with a “rich sense of harmony”. When Tchaikovsky joined St. Petersburg Conservatory and studied music, he was one of its first students. After graduating in 1865, he got a job as a teacher of music theory in the Moscow Conservatory.

According to Mason, Tchaikovsky now had “the courage to attempt his first symphony’’, ‘Winter Dreams.’ He was so overwrought by nerves, that he stopped composing anything in the night.. In the first ten years in Moscow, he produced varied kinds of music from operas to string quartets, which built up his reputation His first opera, “The Voyevoda” was well received when it was produced in 1868. In 1869, he composed “Romeo and Juliet” in which Tchaikovsky “subtly adopted sonata form to mirror the dramatic structure of Shakespeare’s play”.

(Encyclopedia Britannica}He married one of his own pupils, but the marriage did not last even a month. Tchaikovsky, with his predilections for homosexuality , found marriage too nerve wracking and even attempted suicide. He had an extraordinary relationship with a wealthy widow, Nadezhda von Meck, who admired his work and was in regular correspondence with him. She arranged a regular monthly allowance for him , which gave him enough financial freedom to resign from his teaching job in the Moscow Conservatory.

His post-Moscow period was very fruitful. In 1878, many of his most famous compositions like the opera Eugene Onegin, The Symphony No.4 in F Minor and the Violin Concerto in D Major were completed .His famous ballet The Nutcracker and his masterpiece, Symphony No.6 in B Minor were completed in 1892.With his love for the Russian folk tradition and his polished technical skill, Tchaikovsky was a great Russian Romantic Musician.ReferencesKrantz, Allen. “Biography: Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky” “Classical Archives” Mason, Daniel Gregory.

“Personal Life” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians “Tchaikovsky” The Encyclopedia Britannica 15th Edition vol 11. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. London. 2003.