 Tchaikovsky,
Peter Ilich (1840-1893), Russian composer, the foremost of the 19th
century. Tchaikovsky was born in Votkinsk, in the western Ural area of
the country. He studied law in Saint Petersburg and took music classes
at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. There his teachers included Russian
composer and pianist Anton Rubinstein, from whom Tchaikovsky subsequently
took advanced instruction in orchestration. In 1866 composer-pianist Nicholas
Rubinstein, Anton's brother, obtained for Tchaikovsky the post of teacher
of harmony at the Moscow Conservatory. There the young composer met dramatist
Aleksandr Nikolayevich Ostrovsky, who wrote the libretto for Tchaikovsky's
first opera, The Voyevoda (1868). From this period also date his operas
Undine (1869) and The Oprichnik (1872); the Piano Concerto no. 1 in B-flat
Minor (1875); the symphonies no. 1 (called "Winter Dreams," 1868), no.
2 (1873; subsequently revised and titled "Little Russian"), and no. 3 (1875);
and the overture Romeo and Juliet (1870; revised in 1870 and 1880). The
B-flat piano concerto was dedicated originally to Nicholas Rubinstein,
who pronounced it unplayable. Deeply injured, Tchaikovsky made extensive
alterations in the work and reinscribed it to German pianist Hans Guido
von B?low, who rewarded the courtesy by performing the concerto on the
occasion of his first concert tour of the United States (1875-1876). Rubinstein
later acknowledged the merit of the revised composition and made it a part
of his own repertoire. Well known for its dramatic first movement and skillful
use of folklike melodies, it subsequently became one of the most frequently
played of all piano concertos.
Period of Productivity
Evaluation Many Tchaikovsky compositions-among them The Nutcracker (ballet and suite, 1891-1892), the Piano Concerto no. 2 in G Major (1880), the String Quartet no. 3 in E-flat Minor (1876), and the Trio in A Minor for Violin, Cello, and Piano (1882)-have remained popular with concertgoers. His most popular works are characterized by richly melodic passages in which sections suggestive of profound melancholy frequently alternate with dancelike movements derived from folk music. Like his contemporary, Russian composer Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky was an exceptionally gifted orchestrator; his ballet scores in particular contain many striking effects of orchestral coloration. His symphonic works, popular for their melodic content, are also strong (and often unappreciated) in their abstract thematic development. In his best operas, such as Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades, he used highly suggestive melodic passages to depict a dramatic situation concisely and with poignant effect. His ballets, notably Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty, have never been surpassed for their melodic intensity and instrumental brilliance. Composed in close collaboration with choreographer Marius Petipa, they represent virtually the first use of serious dramatic music for the dance since the operatic ballet of German composer Christoph Willibald Gluck. Tchaikovsky also extended the range of the symphonic poem, and his works in this genre, including Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, are notable for their richly melodic evocation of the moods of the literary works on which they are based. Source: Microsoft Encarta 97 |
In
1876 Tchaikovsky became acquainted with Madam Nadejda von Meck, a wealthy
widow, whose enthusiasm for the composer's music led her to give him an
annual allowance. Fourteen years later, however, Madame von Meck, believing
herself financially ruined, abruptly terminated the subsidy. Although Tchaikovsky's
other sources of income were by then adequate to sustain him, he was wounded
by the sudden defection of his patron without apparent cause, and he never
forgave her. The period of his connection with Madame von Meck was one
of rich productivity for Tchaikovsky. To this time belong the operas Eugene
Onegin (1878), The Maid of Orleans (1879), Mazeppa (1883), and The Sorceress
(1887); the ballets Swan Lake (1876) and The Sleeping Beauty (1889); the
Rococo Variations for Cello and Orchestra (1876) and the Violin Concerto
in D Major (1878); the orchestral works Marche Slave (1876), Francesca
da Rimini (1876), Symphony no. 4 in F Minor (1877), the overture The Year
1812 (1880), Capriccio Italien (1880), Serenade (1880), Manfred symphony
(1885), Symphony no. 5 in E Minor (1888), the fantasy overture Hamlet (1885);
and numerous songs. Meanwhile, in 1877, Tchaikovsky had married Antonina
Milyukova, a music student at the Moscow Conservatory who had written to
the composer declaring her love for him. The marriage was unhappy from
the outset, and the couple soon separated. From 1887 to 1891 Tchaikovsky
made several highly successful concert tours, conducting his own works
before large, enthusiastic audiences in the major cities of Europe and
the United States. He composed one of his finest operas, The Queen of Spades,
in 1890. Early in 1893 the composer began work on his Symphony no. 6 in
B Minor, subsequently titled Path?tique by his brother Modeste. The first
performance of the work, given at St. Petersburg on October 28, 1893, under
the composer's direction, was indifferently received. Tchaikovsky died
nine days later.