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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The Romantic-era Russian behind Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and the 1812 Overture.

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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

via Wikipedia: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky · see source

He died on 6 November 1893 at age 53, with his death generally ascribed to cholera.[1][2] His life was marked by personal crises and depression despite his popular successes.[2]

Life and work

In 1877, at age 37, he married former student Antonina Miliukova, but the marriage was a disaster and they lived together only two and a half months.[3][4] Nadezhda von Meck became his patroness for 13 years, allowing him to focus on composition.[5] He began promoting Russian music as a conductor in 1887 and led the premiere of his Fifth Symphony in 1888.[6][7] Because musical career prospects were scarce in Russia at that time and no formal music schools existed, Tchaikovsky was steered toward a job in the civil service.[8]

He became a student in the first-ever class of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and finished his studies there in 1865.[8][9] Between 1867 and 1878, he balanced teaching duties and writing music criticism with his own composing work.[10]

What the cited sources add

A Guardian article reports that previously censored letters reveal Tchaikovsky wrote of a young servant "with whom I am more in love than ever"[11] A research symposium paper states that primary sources from Tchaikovsky's brother and Xeniya Davydov counter suicide rumors about his death.[12] The tchaikovsky-research.net account says Tchaikovsky's earliest musical impressions came from the family's orchestrina with excerpts from Mozart, Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti.[13] That same source notes his mother's sudden death from cholera in 1854 was a traumatic event for him.[13]

The Aleksandra Davydova page states Tchaikovsky spent much time on the Davydov family estates at Kamenka and Verbovka, where many of his works were composed.[14]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Tchaikovsky". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Alberge, "Tchaikovsky and the secret gay loves censors tried to hide", The Guardian, 2 June 2018; Wiley, "Rewriting Composers' Lives: Critical Historiography and Musical Biography", Royal Holloway, University of London, 2008, p. 222–223, 229, 324, 333–337; Leonowitz, "Reevaluating Perceptions of Tchaikovsky's Pathétique Symphony", Duquesne University Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Symposium, 6 April 2016 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brown, The Early Years, 156–157; Warrack, Tchaikovsky, 53.; Brown, The Early Years, 156–158; Poznansky, Eyes, 88.; "Artôt, Désirée (1835–1907)", Schubertiade music; Brown, The Crisis Years, 137–147; Poznansky, Quest, 207–208, 219–220; Wiley, Tchaikovsky, 147–150. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brown, The Crisis Years, 146–148; Poznansky, Quest, 234; Wiley, Tchaikovsky, 152.; Brown, The Crisis Years, 157; Poznansky, Quest, 234; Wiley, Tchaikovsky, 155.; Wiley, New Grove (2001), 25:147. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Holden, 159, 231–232.; Brown, Man and Music, 171–172. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wiley, New Grove (2001), 25:162.; Holden, 261; Warrack, Tchaikovsky, 197. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Holden, 266; Warrack, Tchaikovsky, 232. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Steen, "The Lives and Times of Great Composers", Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 663 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brown, Man and Music, 20; Holden, 38–39; Warrack, Tchaikovsky, 36–38.; Chisholm, 348 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Holden, 83; Warrack, Tchaikovsky, 61.; Wiley, Tchaikovsky, 87.; Wiley, Tchaikovsky, 79.; As quoted in Wiley, Tchaikovsky, 95.; Wiley, Tchaikovsky, 77. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Alberge, "Tchaikovsky and the secret gay loves censors tried to hide", The Guardian, 2 June 2018. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
  12. Leonowitz, "Reevaluating Perceptions of Tchaikovsky's Pathétique Symphony", Duquesne University Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Symposium, 6 April 2016. facts only, no text reused. dsc.duq.edu
  13. "Tchaikovsky: A Life", tchaikovsky-research.net. facts only, no text reused. en.tchaikovsky-research.net
  14. "Aleksandra Davydova", en.tchaikovsky-research.net. facts only, no text reused. en.tchaikovsky-research.net

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Named in this entry

1812 OverturePiano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)Violin Concerto (Tchaikovsky)Romeo and Juliet (Tchaikovsky)Swan LakeThe NutcrackerRussian EmpireUdmurtia

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Test yourself

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1. In what year did Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky die?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1893.

From the source: “Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular co”

2. In what year was Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1840.

From the source: “Tchaikovsky was born on 7 May 1840 in Votkinsk, a small town in Vyatka Governorate during the Russian Empire in present-day Udmurtia near the banks of the Kama River.”

3. In which place was Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is Votkinsk, Russia.

Answers checked against the source article

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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