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Chaykovsky], Petr (Ilyich) (b. Kamsko-Votkinsk, Vyatka governorate, 7 May 1840; d. St Petersburg, 6 Nov 1893). Russian composer. Of all the great composers, he perhaps commands the widest affection. That must be due partly to his open self-expression, and in particular to his willingness to present himself not as heroic, like other Romantics, but as vulnerable. Yet though many of his works reveal a person beset by the problems of existence, many realize ideal worlds — the Mediterranean, the 18th century, the ballet stage — with consummate charm and supreme technique.
He was the second of six children in the family of a mining engineer-manager and enjoyed a comfortable early childhood, learning the piano and French. In 1861 he began lessons with Nikolay Zaremba, and with Anton Rubinstein’s encouragement he enrolled full time at the new St Petersburg Conservatory in 1863, relieved to be devoting himself to music at last. He produced his first important work, the overture The Storm, and began making his mark within the small world of Russian music, to the extent that he was invited by Nikolay Rubinstein, Anton’s brother, to teach at what was soon to become the Moscow Conservatory. His first opera was The Voyevoda, which was performed at the Bolshoy in February 1869 but failed to satisfy the critics, the public or its restless composer, who reused some of the material in a new opera, The Oprichnik
Some of his most attractive, but also some of his most neglected works are the two operas: The Maid of Orleans (1878–9), in the Meyerbeer mode of grand pageantry, and the more streamlined Mazeppa (1881–3), on an episode from Russian history. He discovered a relaxed alternative to the symphony in the orchestral suite, which could contain character pieces and impressions of older styles. He also produced the superb Serenade for strings (1880) and, in the same year, the 1812 overture — an effective picture of Russia’s defiance of Napoleon, with clashing national anthems and military effects — as well as a lively piece in the Russian tradition of musical travel writing, the Capriccio italien. Then, as a memorial to Nikolay Rubinstein, he composed perhaps his finest chamber work, the Piano Trio in A minor
In the ‘Pathétique’ Symphony, as in all his great works, the messages are various, and they have been variously read. For some his music is autobiography, written in blood, or else it fails. For others he is the supreme professional, dealing expertly with matters of form and instrumentation, an objective master of diverse musical genres. For two of his greatest admirers in the next generation he was a master of melody (Rachmaninoff) or of style (Stravinsky). And still there are works that, like Lolanta or others among the operas, have slipped through everyone’s nets and remained almost ignored, yet part of the multifarious real Tchaikovsky.
David Brown Tchaikovsky, 4 Vols. (1978–91); Alexander Poznansky Tchaikovsky (1991), Tchaikovsky Through Other’s Eyes (1999)
This article was taken from an article on Tchaikovsky in the Credo Reference Library for music, for more on him or other great musicians check out Credo Reference Library: Music available from all libraries
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